Emmie and Clay - One Day At A Time
by lauren2381
Summary: A series of snapshots that fit into my Emmie and Clay series
1. Chapter 1

Clay looked around the apartment in despair. The emptiness and chaos was overwhelming with the amount of boxes that were stacked all around him. He knew that moving into a new place wasn't going to be the most fun thing in the world, but Clay didn't realize just how much work moving was. It would be worth it to be twenty minutes closer to Emma, and twenty minutes closer to base. Sighing to himself, Clay began to organize the boxes into the different rooms, grateful that he had spent the time to label all of the boxes. Once everything was sorted into piles, Clay started with the kitchen. Unpacking the meager plates and bowls he had managed to acquire and his one pot and pan. He unearthed the coffee maker and the toaster before breaking down the boxes and moving into the living room. Once he saw how many more boxes there were to unpack, Clay decided to unpack the living room before calling in reinforcements. Grabbing his phone, he texted Emma.

"Hey Em, you doing anything today?" Putting his phone down while he unpacked his xbox and hooked it up to the tv, he didn't hear it ring until the entire room was unpacked, not that there was really that many boxes to begin with. Looking down at the screen, he smiled.

"Not really, Dad is taking Mikey to some game because he was able to get tickets from Jamie, but I said that I didn't want to go. Why? Are you free?"

"Need some help at my apartment, moving is apparently harder than it looks," Looking around at his apartment all of his furniture was moved in and the tv was set up with the xbox, but it didn't look like a house. It looked like a bachelor pad.

"Give me a little while to finish lunch and tell dad where I'm going, but it should be fine. Maybe an hour?"

"It's a date :)" Setting his phone aside, Clay got to work on unpacking the rest of the boxes, but he couldn't stop his mind from wandering. While Emma and Clay had been taking things very slowly, he could tell that the girl is getting impatient for more and more. The morning that they spent in bed was one of the most intimate and sexiest times that he had spent with Emma, and they hadn't really gone much further than they had in the past. Not wanting to assume that he would end up doing anything with Emma, Clay started to make a list of things that he needed to get from the store.

Emma was nervous, she went down to tell her father that her plans had changed for the afternoon, still slightly unsure that he was even going to let her go to her boyfriend's apartment without supervision. Steadying herself, Emma walked into the living room where Mikey and her dad were playing video games. "Dad, I'm going over to Clay's for a little bit, he asked for help unpacking," Emma waited for a response, half expecting to be told that she wasn't allowed to go.

"Ok honey, be back before nine, it's a school night. Mikey and I won't be home until after nine, but check in when you get home," Jason didn't want to let her go. It went against every instinct he had as a father, but if he was to say no… it wouldn't do anything but make Emma sneak around further. And he didn't really want to have a problem with his daughter and his rookie, it spelled disaster.

"Thanks dad, I shouldn't be gone too long, have fun at the game!" And with that she skipped out the door, not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth. Climbing into her little red buick, Emma drove over to the apartment complex that Clay had decided to rent, one that was closer to the base and closer to Emma's house. Quite convenient if she did say so herself. When Clay had texted her asking her to come over, she was wondering if he was asking because he really needed help, or because he wanted to spend some time with her, alone. Either way, she changed out of the running shorts and baggy t shirt she was wearing into soft leggings and a sweater that hugged her chest and brought out the blue in her eyes. Parking next to Clay's truck, she took a deep breath before knocking on the door. The door swept open, and Emma let out a chuckle at the sight of Clay's disheveled appearance.

"Hi," Emma said smiling. Clay's hair was sticking up in the front from running his hands through it. There was a spot of grease on the front of his shirt and down the leg of his sweatpants; he looked stressed. "I like the new place Clay."

Before Emma could go any further than the doorway, Clay wrapped her in his arms. He was beginning to feel overwhelmed at all of the things he still had to do for the apartment, but with Emma there at the very least they could divide and conquer to get things done. Pulling away from Emma, Clay grabbed her hand and shut the door behind her.

"Want the grand tour Em?" Clay joked, you could really see the entirety of the apartment from the front door, but Emma still nodded, smiling lightly. She had helped Clay look into other apartment complexes that he could rent and had found this one for him, she knew what the apartment looked like. "Well over here we have the kitchen, which is mostly unpacked, then there's the living room, which is completely unpacked. Bathroom is over there and then the bedroom is through that door."

"Very nice Clay, you look like you've got most of it done already." Emma was fishing, hoping that Clay would tell her that he really just wanted to spend time with her. But then again Clay could have just said that he wanted to see her, she still would have come over.

"Most of it is done, I just need help actually decorating it, and putting my room together. I'm shit at making things look pretty Em," Clay admitted, while leading her through the door to his room. "This is the last room that I have to unpack before we can decorate a little, I don't have much though so it might be an adventure to try and find some things.

"That's easy enough, why don't you start opening boxes and we'll go from there?" Emma suggested, slightly disappointed that her and Clay were actually going to be unpacking. Looking at the furniture in the room, Emma looked at the large bed that took up most of the wall and the two nightstands on either side of the bed. "Clay? She called out.

"Yeah Em?" Clay had apparently found the boxes of his clothing and was unpacking them in the closet.

"Did you find your sheets yet?" While she couldn't exactly help Clay put away his clothes, she could make his bed and at least start to open some of the other boxes.

"No but all the boxes should be labeled, I think I put it with the comforter." Emma scanned the boxes before finding the one that she was looking. Spreading the soft jersey sheets over the queen mattress, Emma stopped for a moment. Clay had brought asked her to help him decorate the apartment because he wanted her input. He was starting to picture his life with her in it, and the thought made her smile slightly. Once the bed was made, Emma opened another box and found some items that definitely belonged in the nightstand. An alarm clock. A framed picture of her and Clay. And a box of condoms. Not wanting to overthink anything, she placed the box in the drawer of the nightstand on the side that Clay liked to sleep on and moved to another box, cheeks still bright red.

"Emma?" Clay walked out to grab the last of his clothes when he saw the red flush spreading across his face, he didn't quite know what was making her blush though. He didn't think that there was anything in the boxes that would make her uncomfortable.

"Yeah," Emma turned to face him and noticed that he looked calmer. He had flattened out his hair and changed his dirty t shirt for a clean one that clung tightly to the broadness of his shoulders.

"What is it honey, you look flushed,"

"Nothing Clay, it's just warm in here." Emma avoided looking at his face, not wanting to admit that she had found his condoms. She wasn't bothered by it, they were going to be a necessity soon if they continued on the path that they were going down. She just wasn't expecting to see them so blatantly.

"Do you want a different shirt honey, I can probably find a t shirt somewhere around here. But don't think that you're getting off that easy, something's up." Clay walked back into the closet and pulled out a shirt at random, not seeing that he had pulled out another of his Bravo shirts. Tossing the shirt to Emma, he turned around so that she could change out of her thick sweater.

"It's nothing Clay, I just unpacked something that I don't think you meant for me to see just yet."

Clay whirled around just as Emma was pulling the shirt over her head, her arms outstretched and her breasts raised high on her chest, white bralette on display. Swallowing heavily at the sight, Clay asked "What do you mean by that?" There really wasn't anything in these boxes that would embarrass Emma, and truthfully Clay couldn't really remember what he had packed and what he has tossed from his old apartment.

"Clay," Emma dragged out, Clay crossed the room to stand in front of Emma.

"Emma," Clay responded in kind, wanting to get a direct answer from her. Emma opened the nightstand drawer again and handed the box of condoms over to Clay, cheeks and ears bright red. Once Clay understood what he was holding, he too went bright red before chuckling slightly. "Emmie K, Sonny bought me these when I first got drafted to Bravo, a welcome gift to the 'women that would fall over for a Seal'. I've never used them," Clay was trying to get Emma to see that he hadn't bought them with anything in mind.

"I know Clay, I'm not upset. They just took me by surprise love. Do we need to talk about this though?"

"Em I still don't think we're ready for sex just yet, and that's not why I asked you to come over either. I really did just want your help decorating, I want this place to feel like yours too,"

Placing a sweet kiss on Clay's cheek, Emma wrapped her arms around him. "Well, we have the whole afternoon together. Let's finish up in here and then take advantage of it, we don't get time alone like this very often." Emma said resolutely. There were four more boxes that still needed to be unpacked in the entire apartment before they could go out and get some decorations. A grin slowly spread across Clay's face and he kissed Emma, angling her jaw so that he could deepen the kiss before pulling away, leaving Emma breathless.

"You're on Emmie K," Clay took the last two boxes of clothing into the closet, leaving two boxes for Emma to go through. One of the boxes was just a set of fluffy blankets that Emma spread at the bottom of the bed, and the last box was full of books in various languages that she set up on the bottom shelf of the nightstand. Breaking down the boxes, she carried them into the kitchen where she made a nice neat stack of boxes ready to be taken down to the dumpster. Kicking off her slippers by the front door, Emma padded back into the bedroom. Taking a deep breath, Emma decided that she was going to push the envelope a little bit further than they had previously. Rolling down her leggings, Emma placed them and the sweater that she was wearing on the nightstand on the other side of the bed. Emma was left in the t shirt that bore Clay's name and her underwear. Sitting down at the head of the bed, Emma waited for Clay to come back into the bedroom, playing on her phone anxiously. Not wanting to wait any longer, Emma walked over to the closet door and leaned against it, coughing slightly.

"Emma," Clay was awestruck. His girl was standing in his bedroom, wearing his shirt, and looking at him like he hung the moon. He dropped the last sweatshirt that was in his hand and moved towards her, as if drawn by a magnet. Wrapping his arms around her waist, Clay pulled her close so that there wasn't an inch of space between them. Tilting her head up to look at Clay, Emma rose on her toes and kissed him gently once before opening her mouth and letting her tongue brush his. They stood there for what felt like hours, just kissing each other. Snapping out of his shock, Clay sucked Emma's bottom lip into his mouth before dragging his hands down onto her thighs. Breaking the kiss, Clay panted before lifting her into his arms and carrying her over to the bed, placing her down gently. Before he could do anything, Emma surged up on her knees and tugged Clay's shirt off.

Clay let her tug off his shirt and kiss his neck, wanting Emma to be in control. It was always a tough balance to control himself when Emma was putting her soft hands all over his body, but he respected her enough to go at her pace, whatever that pace might be. Feeling the soft kisses being placed down his neck, Clay wrapped his arms around her waist, pushing their hips together. At Emma's gasp, Clay leaned into her once more before sitting on the bed next to her.

Both of them sat together silently for a moment, neither knowing where to go from there. Both were breathing heavily, with heaving chests and swollen lips. Kicking off his shoes, Clay moved to the head of the bed, pulling Emma's hand along with him until the were both settled with Emma sitting across Clay's lap.

"Hi," Emma whispered. She wasn't sure why she was whispering, but it felt like the right thing to do.

Brushing his hand down Emma's face, Clay responded "Hi Emmie K," before shifting her long blonde hair off her shoulder and suckling tiny kisses on her neck. Clay let his hands drift up and down Emma's leg with the other hand holding her steady on her lap. Clay dragged his hand down past Emma's knee and chuckled slightly when she jerked and giggled, but his chuckle quickly turned into a moan when Emma moved on his lap.

With wide eyes, Emma looked at Clay. This wasn't anything new for them, they had gone this far before, but never without anyone in the vicinity and never without the intention of stopping. Emma slid off of Clay's lap to lay down next to him as they both slid further down on the bed, still on top of the covers. One minute they weren't touching each other, just breathing, and the next moment Emma was on top of Clay, with one long leg thrown over Clay's pelvis. Emma put her hands on either side of Clay's face, drowning in his kissed, stroking his tongue with hers. Rocking her hips into Clay's Emma felt his strong hands roll down her body to rest on her ass, moving her hips in a steady rhythm over the hardness concealed by his sweatpants.

"Clay," Emma whined, a feeling of desire overtaking her mind. She felt the same rush coming over her that she did that morning in her bed, but it was like she couldn't get to quite the right spot to send her over the edge. She was so close but yet so far.

"Em, gonna go under your shirt, 'kay?" Clay was dizzy at the thought of Emma moving over him, wearing nothing but a shirt and underwear. But when Clay dragged his hands down over her hips to cup her bare ass in his hands, a low groan escaped from deep in his chest. The thought of Emma in a thong made Clay's heart beat faster in his chest while he was watching for Emma's response. Emma nodded frenetically, grinding her hips down even harder on top of Clay, not getting nearly enough friction through the layers of clothing that were separating them.

Clay slipped his hands under his shirt, one hand resting on her waist and the other rising towards the clasp of her bralette. Pinching the clasp, Clay dragged the straps down, throwing it somewhere over Emma's shoulder. While they were separated briefly, Emma reached down and grabbed the hem of the shirt, intent on pulling that off as well.

"Emmie, we take that off, I don't know how far we're going here. Give me a line," Clay shook his head, trying to clear the lust from his brain.

"I want more than what we've done Clay," Emma's face was flushed, her hips still rocking against Clay's. "I don't know what I need here." Emma was getting frustrated, climbing higher and higher but never reaching a peak.

"Do you trust me?" Clay asked, gripping Emma's hips and stopping their motion. If he let Emma pull that shirt off, leaving her in just her tiny little thong… there would be no stopping. They weren't ready for that. At her nod, Clay sat up, still holding Emma close to his chest and rolled them over so that Emma was underneath him. They were really going to be pushing the envelope tonight, but Clay couldn't bring himself to stop. Kissing down her chest, Clay sucked and nipped at her breasts, switching back and forth until the shirt was plastered to her chest and the moans falling off her lips grew louder and louder. Clay took a deep breath before slipping his hands underneath the shirt, just resting on her stomach.

"Clay, I need something before I go insane, please just touch me," Emma grabbed his wrist, intent on dragging it towards her chest, but Clay had other plans.

"I will honey, but you have to tell me what you want here, and if you want to stop, just say the word." Sliding down next to Emma, Clay pulled her so that her back was pressed to his chest and fingered the hem of Emma's underwear gently. They stayed there for a moment while Clay traced the soft cotton, first down the side of her hip bone before slowly wandering gently over to the growing wet patch. Tightening his arm around her waist, Clay dragged his finger up and down as Emma moved her hips in time to his fingers, while grinding back against Clay with every downstroke.

"It feels, good, Clay," Emma managed to get out. Her head was spinning from the sensations that Clay was dragging out of her body.

"You need more Em?" Clay said, biting Emma's neck gently. He wanted to give her what she wanted while still keeping some of their envelope intact.

Emma didn't respond, she just grabbed his hand and tugged her underwear out of the way so that Clay's hand hit bare skin. A loud moan dragged out of Emma's throat when Clay's fingers grazed against the heated skin and Clay had to take a deep breath. Gliding his finger, Clay gently pushed his finger inside Emma, just enough to have her clench down on something. Feeling the warmth surrounding his finger, Clay desperately pulled Emma closer to him, wanting to feel the curve of her ass firmly pressed against his body. Inhaling, Clay smelt the heady scent of Emma's arousal, and judging by the pants and whines that were rolling off of Emma's lips, she was close.

"Clay, please, more, please," Emma cried out, wanting to take his finger deeper, but also needing something else that she couldn't describe.

"I got you honey, almost there," Clay used his other hand to tug at the hardened nipple through his t shirt. Rolling the nipple between his forefinger and his thumb, Clay mirrored the action with his other hand on Emma's clit. The combined sensation made Emma stiffen and drop her head back. One final thrust from Clay's finger sent her over the edge. A low moan echoed through the room and then the only sound was the heavy breathing of Emma and Clay.

Emma twisted back around in Clay's arms, and kissed him slowly. Feeling boneless and sated, Emma couldn't move if she tried. Shifting closer to Clay, Emma felt his hardness brush up against her belly and a flood of desire rushed through her again Dragging her hand down Clay's chest, still kissing him languorously, she dipped her fingers underneath the waistband of his sweats.

"Em, we can't," Clay grabbed her wrist, intent on stopping her from pushing them too far.

"I want to Clay," Emma looked up at him before a pit began to form in her stomach. "Do you not want me to?" She whispered, slightly afraid that he wasn't attracted to her.

"Of course I want you honey," Clay said, dragging her hand to feel the hardness in his pants. "This wouldn't be here if I didn't want you. But feeling your hands on me Em? I won't be able to hold back, I don't have enough self control honey," Clay confessed, unknowingly grinding his hips into Emma, biting his lip to keep himself from saying yes.

"Then you show me, Clay. Let me see you," Emma snuggled in next to Clay, dropping warm kisses down the column of his throat before kissing his lips. Brushing her tongue along the seam of hips lips, Emma felt when Clay started to relax into her kiss. "You can babe, show me how to do this for you,"

Clay felt like he was on fire, with Emma in his arms kissing him like she wanted to devour him combined with the memory of her breathy little pants as he got her off… Clay was ready for a release. Tugging down his sweats, Clay palmed himself through his boxers. Closing his eyes, he didn't see that Emma had snaked her hand down until he felt her small palm under his. Shooting his eyes open, Clay let out a loud moan before thrusting his hips.

"Emma," Clay warned, fighting to keep most of his self control intact.

"It's ok Clay, let me help you." Emma murmured, moving her hand gently. When her hand was removed, Emma didn't fight it, not this time. Entranced by the firm motion of Clay cupping himself through his boxers, Emma slid herself under his other arm to rest on his chest, still placing sucking kisses on his neck. Rasping her teeth over the sensitive point on his jaw, Emma was rewarded by a strangled moan.

"Last chance, Em," Clay was desperate for a release of his own. He could feel it stirring low in his abdomen. Emma nodded, and felt Clay's arm tighten around her waist before he lifted his butt and dragged his boxers down off of his hips.

Clay was lost in his own world, his girl was next to him and he could still picture her flushed face and heaving chest as he brought her to an orgasm. Running his hand down to stroke his balls, Clay knew that Emma wasn't going to stay still for long and when her hand came down to stroke him again, he let her. Feeling her hand wrap tightly around his cock and tug upwards.

"Emmie," Clay groaned.

"Do you like that?" Emma asked, before dragging one finger to where small drops of precum were beading at the tip.

"Faster, Em," Clay moved to wrap his hand around hers and grasped harder than Emma would have dared to, and stroked faster, chasing release. Sooner than he wanted to, Clay was gasping, the only coherent word that would come out of his mouth was Emma's name.

"You're almost there babe," Emma sensed that Clay was right on the edge of his orgasm, could see it in the flush of his cheeks and the pace of their hands moving on his cock. Emma knew that their hands wasn't going to be enough to get him over the edge. Moving to straddle Clay, Emma grinded down onto him, hard. And Clay lost the tenuous hold on his self control. Gripping her hips, Clay thrust against Emma's still drenched underwear, picturing a time when there would be no barriers between them, and came harder than he had ever come before in his life.

Coming back down to Earth, Clay gently shifted Emma off of his lap, pulling up his boxers. Moving the covers down, Clay wrapped his arms around Emma.

"Stay," Clay said softly. "There's still a little bit of time before you have to go back."

Sleepily Emma nodded, before setting a timer on her phone for an hour. Hopefully they would be able to go get some decorations after their nap, Clay's, well really their, apartment was looking a little bare.


	2. Chapter 2

Emma sat in seventh period English, sweating slightly. Her lower back was killing her, her stomach trying to twist itself around in her abdomen, and her head felt like there was a jackhammer pounding away. Slouching down further, she glanced at the clock on the wall, only fifteen more minutes before Clay was set to pick her up. He had something planned, not that he would tell her what they were going to do, that was top secret. Suddenly the date clicked into Emma's head as she felt a cramp in her lower back. Raising her hand, Emma caught her teacher's eye and excused herself to the bathroom. Yup. It was that time. Fuck.

Sitting down on the toilet, Emma dug into her bag and pulled out her phone. Thumbing through her contacts, Emma found the one that she was looking for. Typing out a message, Emma hunched over as another cramp ripped through her abdomen.

"Hey C, I don't think we're gonna be able to go out tonight, I feel like poop :(" Breathing in deeply through her nose, Emma was unsurprised when a text pinged back not two minutes later.

"Are you ok Em? What kind of feeling like poop?"

Emma let her thumbs circle over her phone, unsure of how much she wanted to tell Clay. Yes they were together, but that didn't mean that he needed to know every detail. Her phone pinged again. "Em?"

"My stomach and back are killing me, I have a headache, definitely not good company right now,"

"You're always good company Em, I'm still picking you up. Even if we just sit on the couch ok?"

Shaking her head, Em typed back, "Ok love, ten more minutes." Standing up from the toilet, Emma looked into the mirror and frowned at the circles under her eyes and the sheen that was on her forehead. She didn't have any advil on her, but at least she had a tampon. It would have to do for now. Walking back to class, she nodded to her teacher before turning in the assignment that they were supposed to be completing. Now all she had to do was wait for the bell to ring. She could do that.

Frowning down at his phone, Clay was confused. He had seen Emma two days before, she wasn't coming down with anything, or at least he didn't think she was. Snorting, Clay was reminded of a conversation between him and Trent where Trent had compared Emma's tendency for getting sick to Clay's ability to pick up an infection in a sterile field. Picking up his keys, Clay debated calling Jason. It was always a hard line to walk, telling his boss something that he needed to know about his relationship status and telling Emma's father something that he didn't really want to know. Usually if Emma was sick she told Jason, something about not wanting to give him any more gray hair after the last time she got sick. Deciding against worrying the man before he knew that there was anything to worry about, Clay got into his truck and drove the short distance to Emma's school. Since moving closer, Clay had been able to spend more time with Emma than before, something both of them took full advantage of when Clay wasn't spun up.

Parking the truck in the back corner of the lot, Clay got out of his truck to wait for Emma to walk out the doors. He would never tell her, but seeing her face light up when she saw him was one of the best feelings. As the throng of high school students started to dissipate, Clay ran his fingers through his hair, then rubbed his hands down the leg of his jeans. Waited another moment, leaning on the side of the truck. Checked his phone, no new messages. Emma wasn't typically one to take her sweet time after school. Another five minutes pass, still no sign of Emma. Just as he was about to go into the school to find her, she walked out the doors. Something was wrong. Emma walked towards him slowly, arms wrapped tightly around her chest, eyebrows pinched together.

"Em?" Clay pushed off the door of the truck. Forcing himself to stay calm, Clay tamped down the panic that was rising in his stomach. Emma had a high pain tolerance, if she was showing any signs of pain, it wasn't good.

"Hi Clay," Emma rose up on her toes to press a kiss on his cheek, sighing when his arms wrapped around her waist. Just being near him was enough to relax her, though when another cramp ripped through her abdomen she was grateful that he was there to hold her upright.

"You ok Em?" Clay placed his hands on her shoulders, pulling her back so that he could look at her face. Scanning the rest of her body, Clay didn't see anything that could be the cause of her pain. She looked fine, maybe a little pale and a little sweaty.

"Yeah Clay, I'm good. Just not feeling well." It was pointless to try and hide anything from Clay, he would spot a lie coming out of her mouth in a second. Emma wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him close. "Are we going to my place or yours?"

Clay thought for a moment. Trent was closer to his place than Emma's, but if Emma wasn't feeling well, she might want to go back to her place. "Where do you want to go?" He'd leave it up to Emma, but he was secretly leaning towards foregoing either place and bringing her right to Trent.

"Let's go to your place, I don't really feel like being around dad right now," Emma climbed into the passenger seat, before sliding down the bench seat to lean against Clay's shoulder. All she wanted was to curl up on the couch and have her boyfriend hold her, not that she couldn't do that at her place. It was just awkward to have his eyes and silent presence in the kitchen when you were trying to cuddle.

"Everything good between you two?" Again, another hard line to walk. He wanted to support Emma through any squabbles that she and Jason had, but visibly siding with Emma might not be the best thing to do in front of your boss.

"We're fine, I just want to hang out with you without him watching every move," Clay chuckled at that, glancing over at Emma when he had stopped at a red light. She was wincing, one hand reaching behind her to rub at her back.

"Emma, what hurts?" Clay tightened his hands on the steering wheel, prepared to run the red light and get to Trent as soon as possible. He felt his heartbeat speed up, assuming the worst. She could have appendicitis or was starting to get the flu, or really anything. Clay wasn't a doctor and didn't know much more than putting pressure on something to stop the bleeding. Forcing himself to take a deep breath, Clay again reminded himself that he was in Virginia, she wasn't being shot at or blown up. Stomach pain didn't mean being wounded here and she would know if she was deathly ill, and hopefully would tell him if they really needed to go see Trent.

"Nothing hurts Clay, I'm fine. The light's green," Emma deflected, hoping that she could get to his place and sneak some of the extra strength advil that she knew he had stocked in his apartment

"Something's wrong honey, you look like you're in pain," Clay glanced over at her again, she was definitely wincing. Lightly, Clay asked "Do you want to go to see Trent?"

Sitting up straight in her seat, Emma looked over at Clay wide eyed. "I do not want or need to see Trent, Clay. It's fine, I'm good."

"Emma, if you're getting sick Trent will be happier knowing that you went to him before it gets bad. He doesn't yell nearly as much if I go to him before he has to come to me," Clay rationalized. Secretly, he thought that Emma was more stubborn than Jason, so getting her to agree to something that she didn't want to do was going to be interesting.

"I'm not sick, Clay. I just don't feel well." Emma could feel herself going red, she was hoping to not have to tell him that she was on her period. She didn't even like telling her father that she was on her period and he was the one she lived with.

Shaking his head in disbelief, Clay went right to the facts, hoping that would sway her. "You're pale, sweating, your head hurts, and you look like you're in pain. I think you're getting sick honey." Clay pulled into the parking lot of his apartment complex and turned to look at Emma, who was looking anywhere but his face. "Em, what's going on?"

"I'm not sick Clay," When he opened his mouth to protest again, Emma cut him off. "It's just my period Clay, I'm not dying." Emma knew her face was red, could feel the burning of her cheeks and her ears. Sitting ramrod straight, Emma tried not to hunch over, but lost the battle as her uterus tried to evict itself, violently.

"Emmie K, why didn't you just say so? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to push," Clay was kicking himself for not seeing it sooner. He knew she wasn't sick, but he didn't put the pieces together fast enough. His relief that she wasn't getting sick was quickly replaced with concern, she was still in pain.

"Because it's embarrassing, because I don't exactly know how to say that I'm on period, because I didn't know if you'd be grossed out. I don't really know Clay." Emma glanced over at Clay, still flushed red.

"Em, I'm never going to be grossed out by anything about your body. I know that it's not the most fun or comfortable conversation to have, but when I see that you're in pain and I don't know why, I get worried. My brain automatically thinks the worst."

Emma still was looking out the window, trying to swallow the tears that were rising in her throat. She didn't mean to make him worry and the damn hormones were making her cry. Emma sniffed slightly, trying not to make it obvious that she was tearing up. "I didn't mean to make you worry,"

"Em, I told you this before, I'm always gonna worry." Clay wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. With her head resting on his shoulder, Clay felt a telltale warmth on his shirt. "Emma…"

"I'm fine Clay, it's the hormones," Emma said wiping her eyes from the stubborn tears that had slipped out. "I had a long day and my back hurts and this sucks because I know you had something awesome planned that now we can't go do because my stupid body is rebelling."

"How can I help Em?" Clay was out of his league here. Give him something to schwack, sure. Give him a language to translate, no problem. Emma crying without a problem to fix? No way, send him to Jbad any day of the week over that.

Sniffling slightly, Emma grabbed his hand. "Can we just cuddle on the couch? I'm sorry, I know it's not the evening you planned."

"Stop apologizing Em, we're still together. Let's go up to apartment, I think I have some comfy clothes you can wear if you wanted to jump in the shower." Clay said as they walked into the lobby. But instead of heading for the stairs like they normally did, Clay hit the button for the elevator, noting the relief that lit up Emma's face.

"If you don't mind? Maybe it'll help. You wouldn't happen to have any advil would you?" Emma joked as they walked into the apartment. Putting her bag on the kitchen table, Emma hung her keys on the hook, smiling at the little touches that showed that she 'lived' in the apartment as well.

"You know that I do Em," Clay chuckled as he opened the first aid kit that he kept under his sink. Shaking two out of the bottle, he handle them and a bottle of water to Emma before heading into his bedroom to scrounge up some sweats and a t shirt for her. Coming back with a faded Navy t shirt and his favorite pair of black sweats, Clay found Emma curled on her side on the couch. "Hey Em, the bathroom's all yours, take as long as you want ok?" Clay placed a soft kiss on her lips, hoping that the shower would help some. Once he heard the water running, he pulled out his phone, intent on getting some advice that would actually help Emma.

Lisa Davis was enjoying her time alone. Sonny was coming over later that night and they were going to spend a quiet night in, alone. Without any prying eyes. Even thinking about how they were going to spend their evening made her lips turn up in a soft smile. The ringing of her phone startled her out of her thoughts, and her immediate reaction was that if she was getting called in, it would have to wait until she had had her way with Sonny. Looking at the caller ID, Lisa picked up the phone. Nothing good could be coming if Clay Spenser was calling her at four o'clock in the afternoon.

"Clay?" Lisa said tentatively, unsure as to why he would be calling her. If she was being called for a spin up it would have been Mandy calling her back to the OPs center. For a brief moment, the thought crossed her mind that he might be calling about Sonny.

"Hey Davis, I, uh, I need some help with something. I didn't know who else would know much about this." Even without being able to see him, Lisa could picture the way he nervously ran his hands through his hair, could practically see him pacing back and forth in short bursts.

"What's the matter Clay, are you ok?" Lisa sat up straighter on the couch, Clay sounded worried, that never boded well for anyone.

"Yeah, Davis, I'm fine. But uh, Emma. I need some advice for Emma,"

"Ok," Davis drawled slowly, unsure of what advice she was supposed to be giving. "What's the problem?"

"Emma's not feeling well, but she's not sick. I don't know how to make her feel better." There was a pause on the phone before Clay coughed, then continued. "It's that time."

"You mean she's on her period?" Lisa clarified. The boys could be... interesting when even the mention of feminine problems were raised. She could only imagine the embarrassment and the panic that Clay was feeling if he was asking her for advice on this.

"Yeah. Her back hurts, she's crying, I'm out of my league here Davis,"

"Ok, well first of all she's not dying. She's in pain, but it's temporary. Where is she now?"

"Taking a shower, I thought the hot water might help." Lisa could practically feel the heat of the blush that she knew was creeping along his ears.

"Good plan Clay, heat is always a good thing. Do you have a heating pad?"

Shuffling came over the line before Clay responded. "Yeah I have one."

"So here's what you're going to do. Set up the couch with some blankets and the heating pad, order some takeout. Has she taken any meds yet?"

"Yeah I gave her two liquid gels,"

"Then there's not really much more you can do here Clay, you did good." Smiling slightly at the thought of Clay wanting to make Emma feel better, Davis thought of another man who would go to the ends of the earth to make sure that she was taken care of, no matter how many times she reassured him that she could take care of herself.

A sigh of relief was heard, then Clay's heartfelt words. "Thanks Lisa, I didn't know who else to ask, not like I could ask Jay about this one,"

"Of course, and Clay? Your secret's safe with me."

"I owe you one Davis, ok? Thanks for everything."

"You're welcome, Clay." When she heard the click of the dial tone, Lisa Davis smiled before walking back into her bedroom, intent on taking a nap before she would hopefully be up all night.

After her shower, Emma felt a little more human than she did before. At the very least she felt like she was finally clean, even if she wasn't really dirty to begin with. Inhaling the clean scent of Clay's t shirt, Emma slipped it on over her head before tugging the sweats over her hips, needing to roll the waistband a few times so that she could walk without tripping over the hem. Padding back out to the living room, Emma stopped short and had to blink back several tears that were threatening to spill.

"Clay?"

"Yeah Em," Clay said distracted, trying to open several containers of Chinese food on the living room table.

"What's this?" The living room looked eerily similar to how her and Hannah would set up her bedroom when they would have sleepovers. A fluffy blanket was on the couch, the TV was open to Netflix, and there were copious amounts of food. Emma even spied some chocolate, and was that a heating pad?

"You don't feel great right now, but that doesn't mean we can't spend time together. We'll watch a movie, eat some food, and another day we can go on our adventure." Clay explained, sitting down on the couch and lifting the blanket.

"You're incredible," Emma whispered awestruck. Snuggling into Clay's side, she smiled at the heating pad that was placed behind her back and the kind man sitting next to her. Reaching for a piece of chocolate, Emma leaned back into Clay's chest before placing a sweet kiss on his lips. Maybe that time of the month wasn't the worst ever after all.


	3. Chapter 3

"Alright boys the next round's on me," Jason said draining the last of his beer. Sitting at the bar with him was Sonny and Clay. While all of the men were happy to not be operating in the moment, training Green Team wasn't exactly the easiest job. Jason now had a new appreciation for all of the work that Adam Seaver put in when he was still alive. These greenies could drive a man to drink.

"Jay I think one more beer's gonna knock wonder boy here on his ass," Sonny play whispered, nudging Clay's arm. When Clay startled, Jason raised his eyebrows. The kid didn't even like beer, no way he drank enough of his to get drunk.

"Hey! 'M not drunk," Clay protested, swaying slightly in his chair.

Jason looked carefully at Clay, trying to determine if he really was drunk or if he was just out of it. The day had been long and hard, trudging through the hills with a full pack of gear. Like Jason, there wasn't a lot of room to pack snacks, but surely he had eaten something, he wasn't that reckless, no way. Not thinking anything of it, Jason just figured that the kid was tired. One more beer wasn't going to hurt.

"Hey Son," Clay started, the thought coming to his mind when he saw a blonde at the bar that was the same height and build as Emma.

"Yeah," Sonny took his toothpick out of his mouth. The boy was drunker than a skunk, there was no telling what was gonna come out of his mouth. Looking for Jason in the crowd, he was still waiting on the beer bottles and would be no help to Sonny.

"I miss Emma, I feel like I haven't been able to see her at all this week." Clay pouted, trying to take another sip of his beer, only to find that it was empty.

"Boy what are you talking about?" Sonny stared at him. They had just been over the night before to watch Mikey at his hockey game. "You just saw her the other day,"

"I know, but it's not the same Son, everyone was there with us. I haven't seen just Emma in forever, and, and, it's rough man"

"Clay, while I would love to hear you wax poetic about how you haven't seen your girl, that is my niece you are waxing about, kindly shut up." Jason was nowhere to be seen and Sonny desperately needed another drink. It seemed that Clay was just drunk enough to talk about his relationship but not drunk enough to be sloppy. Normally the man was sealed tighter than Fort Knox, much to the dismay of Sonny, who liked to tease him about Emma.

"Ah come on Son, you're always fishin' for details. And I'm not even talking 'bout anything. I just miss spending time with her." Clay complained, unsure of why Sonny was being so dramatic. It wasn't like he mentioned how he loved when her cheeks flushed when he held her hand, or the way her eyes sparkled after he kissed her cheek. No sir, he just mentioned that he missed her presence, though now that he was thinking about it… "Hey Sonny, ya think Jace would kill me if Emma stayed over at my place more often?"

Sonny spit out the mouthful of beer, swinging his head to look at Clay. "Were you dropped as a child? Yes Jason would kill you, hell, I think I'd find an excuse to throw a punch in there as well. And what do you mean by staying over at your place, you sneaking her out?" Jason would no doubt be scarier than swimming in shark infested waters if he ever found out that his daughter was having unsanctioned sleepovers at her boyfriend's house.

"I'd get to see her more, I'd be able to kiss her goodnight and she'd wake up in my arms and I'd never have to be careful of who's got eyes on us in my own apartment...dude it's like the perfect situation." As he was talking, Clay sat up straighter. It was a damn good idea, Emma would be close to him and he could see her every day in his bed, there were no problems with his plan.

Sonny eyed Clay, the man was drunk. There was no way if he was sober he would be nearly as transparent about his relationship with Emma as he was right now. Sonny clearly remembered the night that Clay nearly decked him for implying that he was jerking her around. He didn't even want to admit that they were in a relationship, so disclosing that they were becoming, intimate, was not the norm. Sonny shuddered at the thought, while he teased Clay that he wanted all the dirty details, it was still his niece for crying out loud. Scanning the crowd, Sonny still didn't see Jason coming towards them. "Ok so I'm gonna ignore the whole thought of you and Emma doing… anything hinky. You have to shut that shit down right now, Clay. Boss man will not take this topic of conversation well."

"What am I not going to take well?" Jason asked as he stood behind them. After waiting for what felt like a year, Jason had finally gotten the three beers. Looking at Clay, he noted that he seemed more intoxicated than when he left to go to the bar.

"I was just telling Sonny, that, Em, Emma is a good girlfriend and that I want to spend more time with her, he got all pissy because it's Emma," Clay said impetuously.

"Hey now that is not why I'm getting upset," Sonny protested, not wanting Jason to think that he still disapproved of their relationship. He had come to his senses finally, the kid was good for his sunshine.

"Either way," Jason cut them off, stopping the argument before it began. "I'm glad that you and Emma are happy together, I don't want to hear about it. Drink your beer kid." Handing one bottle to Sonny and another to Clay, Jason was surprised when Clay took a few times to grab the bottle, and that he grabbed it with his left hand. "Clay, this is your last beer, I'm cutting you off after this."

"Jace, I'm good, I just didn't eat before this. I'm not drunk!" Clay clumsily brought the bottle up to his lips, having to focus hard on the coordination between the edge of the bottle and his mouth.

Well, that would explain why the kid was drunk. Two beers wouldn't normally be nearly enough to put Clay on his ass, Jason thought ruefully. Another note to bring back to Trent, the kid has to eat before getting stitches and apparently before drinking beer. Good to know. "You're really gonna sit here and tell me that you would talk to Sonny of all people about your relationship if you were perfectly sober? I didn't say that you were drunk Clay, I said that this was your last beer. Not gonna be a pretty sight if I have to explain to Em why you're hungover tomorrow at the house and why I let you get that drunk."

Clay was quiet, before standing up and draining the rest of his beer. Putting back on the table, Clay fished in his pocket and pulled out his keys.

"Wonder boy, I know we joke about you being a blonde, but surely you're not that dumb to think you can drive right now?" Sonny glared at him, noting that he was swaying where he stood. There was no way on God's green Earth that he was gonna let him drive when he was drunk.

"I'm just gonna go see Emma, I think she's home," Clay looked over at Sonny like he was dumb, didn't he just say that he missed her? He was speaking English right? Sometimes when he had too much to drink the languages got mixed up in his head and didn't come out right.

Jason plucked the keys out of his hand neatly. He had never truly seen Clay drunk before and chuckled at the surprised look on his face when he looked down at his empty palm, not quite understanding where the keys had gone.

"Hey! I need those!" Clay reached over to try and grab them back from Jason but was bundled neatly against Sonny's side and forced back onto the barstool. "I need to go see Em, I miss her,"

"You're not driving anywhere kid," Jason said firmly, pocketing the keys.

"Does that mean I can't see Em? I can walk there," Clay said struggling weakly against Sonny.

Sharing a look with Sonny, Jason pulled out his phone. The kid wasn't going to shut up if he didn't see Emma and neither man wanted to babysit a drunken Clay that would share far too much information about a relationship that existed, but did not need to be discussed. "I'll call Emma and see where she is, maybe if she doesn't have a lot of school work, she can come see you tonight. Ok?" Jason sighed, sometimes having the kid date his daughter made his head spin. How much leniency was ok to give them? Was he being too accepting when he knew that Emma was going over to Clay's place? Did he need to sit down with her and talk about things that he definitely wished Alana was there for? Dialing Emma's number, Jason hoped that she wasn't asleep yet and that she would be able to deal with Clay's drunk ass.

Emma was having a productive night. Clay had gone out for drinks with the boys, Mikey was with the Porter's, and she was having some uninterrupted time to figure out her plan for college. Sitting at Clay's kitchen table, Emma smiled, picturing how her life would change in the upcoming months. Emma had decided on going to school locally to study nursing, hopefully with a foreign language minor or two thrown in there. The applications were in, all she had to do was talk to Clay and her dad, and hope that they would support her. Putting the finishing touches on her paper, Emma sighed in contentment. The silence that filled the apartment was soothing. There was no one asking her questions, no one expecting her to do anything, no one bugging her. It was for all intents and purposes, a night off.

Then the phone rang and the idyllic peace shattered as she looked down at the caller ID.

"Hey dad," Emma said answering the phone. Taking another sip of the wine that she had poured for herself, Emma wondered why he was calling her. It wasn't late enough that she had to be home yet and Mikey was taken care of for the evening.

"Hi Em, you doing work right now?" His voice was strained, and was he still at the bar?

"Not really, I finished all of the work that I need to do and sent in the last of my applications, I'm just hanging around. Why?" Emma was starting to get suspicious, her dad never fished for information about how her day was going.

"Need you to see Clay, Sonny and I are bringing him to his apartment. He's drunk,"

Emma sucked in a breath. She was already at his apartment and looked far too comfortable for anyone to think that she hadn't spent the evening there. A candle was flickering on the table, there was wine in her glass, and school books were spread out on the table. Getting up, Emma rapidly started to clean up her supplies. "Why is he drunk? What did he drink?"

"He was drinking beer, apparently didn't eat before he came out to the bar with us, started rambling on about how he wanted to see you. Neither Sonny or I wanna listen to that, Em."

"And that would be why he hates drinking beer, he gets sappy," Emma muttered. Sighing Emma finished packing up her bag before draining the rest of her wine and setting the glass in the dishwasher before blowing the candle out. "How far away are you guys?"

"Ten minutes, how far are you from the apartment?"

"Less than that, I'll wait outside for you and then get him into bed. Can he still walk?" Emma quickly shut the lights before locking the door and hurrying down the stairs of the apartment complex.

"Yeah he's mobile, but uh, Em, you sure you wanna bring him upstairs. Sonny and I can do it, he's just not going to shut up if he doesn't see you,"

"It's fine dad, he'll see me, I'll get him settled upstairs, and then be home in time for bed." Standing by the door, Emma shivered slightly. "I think I see you anyways,"

"I see you honey," The line cut out and Emma watched in amusement as Sonny tried to manhandle Clay out of the middle seat in her dad's truck. Walking over to them, Emma giggled. She had never truly seen Clay drunk before, but boy, was it funny.

"Emmie K, hi," Clay blushed in the moonlight at the sight of Emma walking towards the truck.

"Hi Clay, heard you wanted to see me."

"I did! I missed ya Em," Clay shook off Sonny's arm and walked towards Emma, shuffling his feet until he stumbled. Catching his weight on her shoulder, Emma looked over at Sonny who was trying not to laugh. "I feel like I haven't seen you in forever," Clay drawled out.

When Emma stumbled under his weight, Sonny reached out to grab hold of his shoulder but before he could get there, Emma shuffled him into a modified carry. "He's fine Uncle Sonny, do you have his keys?"

Jason handed the keys over to Emma, still slightly unsure that she would be able to get him inside in one piece. "Call me if you need help Em, and be home before curfew". Shaking his head Jason got back into his truck with Sonny.

"Not a word Son," Jason warned, not wanting to think about what they could get up to with Clay not thinking things through completely.

"Wasn't gonna say nothin'. He's gonna hear about it tomorrow, with no comments from you either. This is too good to pass up."

"I can live with that one," Jason nodded before driving Sonny back to the bar and going back home, thinking of the times when Alana had to pick his drunk ass up from the bar and the ribbing he got from the boys the next day.

Walking with a drunk six foot two hundred something pound man was not an easy feat, but Clay was surprisingly steady on his feet. Or at least steadier than Emma thought he would be with how much he had had to drink. Getting inside the door was the most challenging part, but once Clay was settled on the edge of the bed, he was surprising cooperative.

Standing in front of him, Emma tried to figure out the best way to get Clay into bed without any incidents. "Clay come on, you gotta help me here," Emma had no problem helping Clay take off his shoes and his socks, but unbuckling his pants? Totally different. Even though Emma had seen Clay naked before, her hands shook.

"Come here Emmie K," Emma stood in between Clay's legs and let him wrap his arms around her waist, eyebrows raising when his hands immediately wandered down to cup her ass.

"Clay!" Emma gasped. He had never been quite so bold before, and Emma wasn't completely opposed to it either. Clay stood abruptly, still holding Emma close to him. Sliding his hands up her back, Clay kissed Emma hungrily, the flood of alcohol dulling his thought processes. The only rational thought in his brain was that he needed to be closer to Emma.

Giving as good as she got, Emma let her own hands wander further than she would have dared if Clay was sober. Pulling away, Emma gasped when she felt the hardness pressing into her stomach as Clay kissed down the column of her neck

"Clay, honey, what's going on here?" Emma panted, trying to regain control of the situation that was rapidly spinning out of control.

"Tu me vuelves loco, carina," Clay whispered, sliding his hands under the thin t shirt that Emma was wearing and thumbing the waistband on her joggers.

Looking into her eyes, Clay whispered, "Tu beso me quita el aliento"

This was the first time that Clay had spoken a different language in front of her, much less one that she was fluent in as well, not that Clay really knew that tidbit. It was more than a little sexy to hear those words dripping from his lips, though Emma was fairly positive he didn't know that he was speaking a different language.

After one long, dragging kiss, Emma pulled away from Clay and gently pulled his hands from underneath her shirt and placed them safely on her hips. "We can't honey, you're drunk,"

"Em, I'm good, not drunk," Clay seamlessly switched back into English, although his slight accent remained. Sliding his hands back down to her ass, he squeezed gently, grinning when Emma's breath stuttered in her chest.

Shaking her head, Emma took a deep breath as she rested her forehead on Clay's shoulder. It would be too easy just to let him have his way with her, but he would regret it in the morning. And while she might want to go further, the thought of making Clay uncomfortable poured cold water on the whole situation.

"You are honey," Emma said gently, smoothing his curly bangs off of his forehead. "But it's ok, there'll be other nights, we don't have to do this now."

Clay bit his lip, realizing that Emma wasn't going to budge. Sighing he let her lead him into the bathroom and changed into the running shorts and sweatshirt that she had handed to him. When he stumbled for the third time, he finally admitted to himself that he was drunk. His girl really did know him better than he knew himself sometimes.

Climbing into bed, Clay longed for a time when Emma would crawl in right beside him, but settled for catching her hand before she could make her way out the door. Pulling her close, Clay sat up in bed and kissed her gently. "I'll see you tomorrow Emmie K, text me when you get home ok?"

"I will. Are you still coming over tomorrow night?"

Clay racked his brain and thought back to when he made plans with Emma for the weekend. A movie night at her place was planned for the entire team, and really any excuse to spend the evening with Emma was fine by him. He just hoped the boys wouldn't make too much of a fuss.

"I'll be there Em," Clay promised, eyes staring to droop shut.

With one final kiss Emma stood up from the bed and finished tidying the apartment. Jotting down a quick note for 'sober' Clay, Emma locked the door behind her and made her way back home.

Pulling into the driveway, Emma wasn't surprised to see that the lights were still on in the kitchen. Her father had most likely waited for her to get home, probably to make sure that she did come home.

Sighing, Emma opened the front door and walked into the kitchen. It was never a good idea to avoid confrontation with her father, it only made him seek it out even further.

"He behave?" Jason said, thumbing through the emails on his phone.

"Yeah, kinda funny stumbling over everything, speaking in different languages. He's gonna feel it tomorrow," Emma chuckled, pulling out a bottle of water from the refrigerator.

"He'll probably hear about it tomorrow too. I had to convince Sonny not to take videos," Jason laughed, looking up at Emma. She had lost most of the dark circles that hung underneath her eyes, but still looked worried.

"Hey Em, you ugh, start to make any plans for next year yet?" Jason held his breath, unsure if this was going to spark yet another argument between them.

Putting the bottle down on the counter, Emma looked at her father and waited for him to look up from his phone. "I have, but I need to talk to Clay first. He deserves to know what's happening too."

"Have you at least picked a university? Or what you want to study?" Jason was fishing for anything that would tell him what she was thinking. Emma was like him in that aspect, she never revealed what she was thinking until she was ready.

"Dad, I love you, but Clay and I need to talk about it before I make a decision. I think I know what I want, but until I talk about it with him, I'm not making a decision." Emma tried to explain her reasoning as gently as possible.

"I can respect that Em, but I need to know before we make a decision too. We all have to be on the same page," Jason was happy that Emma was including him in the decision, but at the end of the day he also had a stake in the decision as well.

Weighing her options, Emma chose to share a piece of information with him, hoping that it would appease him for the time being. "I chose Old Dominion. It's close, I'll commute, and they gave me a decent scholarship. It's the major that I need to talk over with Clay, I want to get his thoughts on it first."

"Ok, we can do that. Tomorrow we'll go over the stuff that we need to send in, I'm proud of you Em." Wrapping his arms around his oldest child, he could feel the tension release from her shoulders.

"Thanks daddy," Emma sniffed, happy that life was ironing itself out. Hopefully there wouldn't be anything else that would cause a wrinkle in her plans.

"Head up to bed Em, if I know Clay he'll be here at the ass crack of dawn. We're not going to base tomorrow"

"And you'll pick up Mikey from the Porter's tomorrow? Emma double checked, not wanting to assume that she had a free morning.

"Yeah Em, I got it," Kissing her forehead, Jason watched as she went up the stairs. He could feel things changing as Emma navigated her way through figuring out her relationship with Clay and what her path in life was going to be, and he could not have been more proud of the woman that she was becoming. He only wished that Alana was there to see it in person, he knew that she was looking down on them, but he longed for the sound of her soft chuckle and the feeling of her arms wrapped around him as they watched their baby step out into the world. The last thought Jason had before he nodded off was that Alana was right, Clay was exactly what Emma needed in her life.


	4. Chapter 4

Clay woke up the next morning and lifted his head weakly when he felt the sun slant over his eyes. The pounding behind his eyes reminded him that he had been drinking, but what on earth happened. Sitting up in bed, Clay racked his brain as he glared at the alarm clock, how was it noon already. He remembered texting Emma after his training OP, going to the bar, and then… nothing. Throwing his legs over the edge of the bed, a sudden sense of deja vu came over him. Shaking the thought away, Clay walked into the kitchen and a lazy grin spread over his face. Emma had definitely been home at some point and had left a bottle of water and two liquid gels out on the kitchen table. Picking up the note, Clay's eyebrows rose comically and his mouth dropped open.

Emma wrote in her neat print: En caso de que no lo supieras, eres lindo cuando mezclas tus idiomas. Envíame un mensaje de texto cuando recibas esto. Besos y abrazos, Emmie K.

Tracing the words with his finger, Clay chuckled. Emma was a constant surprise and apparently found out what he was like when he was well and truly pissed. Searching for his phone, he found it neatly placed on his folded pair of jeans and t shirt from the night before. There was only one missed message blinking on the screen from Sonny asking him if he was still alive. Firing off a quick message ensuring that he was still alive and well, Clay dialed Emma's number, hoping that she would pick up. It was late enough in the morning that he didn't have to worry about waking her, but Clay was a little shocked when she picked up on the first ring, the girl liked her sleep after all.

"Hey Emmie K, how are you?" Clay held the phone between the crook of his shoulders and struggled into a fresh pair of jeans and a t shirt.

"Oh I'm good honey, I think the more important question is how you're doing right now," Clay heard the humor filling her voice and the giggles that she was trying to hide, badly.

"I'm fine Em, my head hurts but it's whatever. I've had worse. I'm just calling because I got your note," Clay let the silence linger for a moment, wondering if Emma would tell him which languages he had spoken, and what he had said to her while he was intoxicated.

"Well, it seemed like we abandoned English last night, so I went with the language that you picked. You know I speak several,"

"Yeah and you still won't tell me which ones, I guess one of them is Spanish then," Clay paused for a moment, trying to think back and see if he remembered anything significant from the previous night. "I picked Spanish? Of all languages, spanish?" Clay dragged his hand down his face. He knew that when he was drunk, things got a little fuzzy, but the last time he had spoken Spanish while drunk, he had gotten laid. Several times.

"Yes, and I have to say, it was very sexy," Emma dropped her voice down to a whisper and Clay could picture the flush that was spreading over her cheeks.

"Good to know Emmie K, you like the languages," he laughed. "Did anything else happen?"

Emma was silent for a moment, unsure if she should tell him what happened in his bedroom when they were alone. She wasn't uncomfortable with it, hell she wanted it, but Clay would beat himself up over it, she knew it.

"Emma?" Clay didn't know what to make of her silence.

"Nothing happened, it just got a little… well, you got a little, ugh Clay I don't know how to say this," Clay was silent, letting Emma gather her thoughts. "We were alone in the bedroom, and you got a little… enthusiastic ." Trying to be as delicate as possible, Emma hoped that Clay would understand what she was trying to say.

"Enthusiastic how Em? Did I make you uncomfortable?" Dread pooled in his stomach. Clay really couldn't remember anything that happened after his second beer, but if he had pushed Emma too far, he wouldn't touch another beer as long as he lived.

"No! No, nothing like that. We were in your bedroom and you got a little grabby, but we didn't do anything, I wouldn't let you, no matter how much I wanted to," Emma muttered, still kicking herself that she had stopped herself from getting another mind-blowing orgasm.

"Grabby?" Clay finished pulling his shoes on before going back into the kitchen.

"You are apparently very obsessed with squeezing my ass when drunk, but other than that, we kissed a few times and I sent you to bed."

"Well, I'm glad we didn't do anything honey. Our first time won't be when either of us are drunk, I can promise you that much. Your eyes are going to roll back because of how I make you feel, not because you're blacking out," Clay promised quietly, noting how Emma's breathing sped up over the phone.

"That wasn't fair," Emma groaned.

Clay chuckled, it had been a long time since he had thoroughly enjoyed building up to having sex. Normally it was more of a wham bam thank you ma'am and he was out, but with Emma, even making out was sorching. "I'm sure you'll find a creative way to gain your revenge, Em."

"Oh you're not even going to see it coming," Emma promised lowly, already planning on how she would be getting him back without letting anyone else know what she was planning. Spying the white bralette stacked on her laundry, a plan began to form in Emma's mind.

"Anyways honey, I'm gonna pick up a few things before heading over to your place. I think we're having a boy's night? Unsure if anyone but the boys are gonna be there,"

"That's fine, I'm sure Mikey will like having the guys around. I'll be home all night so I'll probably see you at some point tonight."

"Ok honey, see you tonight."

Hanging up the phone, Clay grabbed the sweatshirt off the back of the chair and tugged it over his head, smelling the sweet scent of her perfume. She must have been wearing it while she did work last night, Clay thought to himself. Everywhere he looked little hints of Emma's presence surrounded his apartment from the candle on the table to the blanket spread out on the couch. Grabbing his keys off the hook by the door, Clay set out to run his errands so that he could get to Emma's place that much faster.

Emma sat at her desk and threw her hair into a bun high on the crown of her head, wanting to show off the bralette peeking from the gauzy white shirt she wore over the same ruffled shorts, mirroring her outfit the first time Clay had been in her bed. Padding down the steps, Emma paused in the kitchen and looked out the window to the yard. Brock and Trent had arrived already and were playing outside with Mikey. Cerberus was running between the three of them before jumping on Mikey. Hearing his laughter, Emma smiled. It had been a long time since Mikey had been able to let his laughter run freely like that.

Sitting down at the table, Emma opened her laptop to check her email and watched as Sonny and her father set up the living room for the movie night. Large cushions covered the floor and crates of beer were being stacked behind the couch. Blankets stacked on the table ready to be snuggled under. She used to love as a kid when they would have family movie nights and her father would let her sit on his lap. Typing out a few responses to emails, Emma kept an eye on the clock. Whatever errands Clay had to do must be taking a lot longer than he planned as it was already four o'clock in the afternoon. A knock at the door drew her out of her thoughts as she walked over, hoping that it was Clay.

"Hi beautiful," Clay said crossing over the threshold before shutting the door behind him. Getting a good look at Emma, Clay groaned.

"What?" Emma said innocently, noting the darkening of Clay's eyes.

"You know what," Clay said, reaching out a hand to grab Emma by the waist and sliding the other hand up to finger the strap of the bralette.

"La expresión de tu cara cuando entraste por la puerta es la única venganza que necesito," Emma said smugly, pulling out of his arms.

Before she could take one step, Clay tugged her back and slotted his lips over hers, pouring all of the frustration and tension into his kiss. Standing in the entryway, neither of them noticed Sonny coming up behind them before he let out a loud wolf whistle.

Pulling one hand from Clay's neck, Emma flipped him off and then gave Clay one last lingering kiss before smirking. "Y ahora no puedes hacer nada con todos aquí." Laughing at the awestruck look on his face, Emma turned to Sonny. "He's all yours Uncle Sonny, and don't worry, he deserved it,"

Emma scampered off into the kitchen to check on Mikey through the window, still hearing Sonny's laughter ringing throughout the house.

"Wonder boy, I don't know what you did there, but when a woman does that, she's gettin' revenge for something,"

"You don't wanna know Son, just trust me, she wins here," Clay said still stunned. Emma was getting bolder and bolder, and as time went on Clay could see traces of her old self bubbling to the surface.

"You got that right, but just an FYI, I don't wanna see that again, that's a case of beer for the first time you made me want to use eye bleach"

"I thought we were past this, I'm not a rookie anymore Son,"

"Maybe not but this is the first girl you've brought home to meet the boys, it's a whole new set of being a rookie kid, get used to it,"

Another knock at the door startled Clay and Sonny and Ray came bursting through the door carrying a wailing RJ on his hip and a case of beer in his other hand.

"Hey brother, give me a hand here," Ray thrust RJ at him and went back out to the car with Sonny to get the rest of the beer and booze that they had in the garage.

Bouncing RJ in his arms, Clay was brought back to his childhood where he spent many years swaying colicky babies in the orphanage where his grandparents worked. The tears stopped falling down his cheeks and Clay started to hum softly as he walked into the kitchen, watching Emma set up plates and napkins next to the boxes of takeout on the counter. Now that RJ had calmed down, he placed his head on Clay's shoulder, content that someone was holding him, until he saw Emma.

"'Ma, 'Ma, 'Ma!" Rj squealed, trying to get his little body away from Clay to go towards Emma.

Giggling, Emma put the last of the paper plates down and went over to Clay, scooping RJ out of his arms and spinning around the kitchen. "Hi handsome, how are you?" She giggled, kissing his forehead before glancing at Clay. RJ babbled happily, chubby hands twisting in her hair. Paying no mind to Clay standing in the doorway, Emma continued to pull things out of the cabinets with RJ sitting on her hip.

Ray walked in with Sonny and stopped short at Clay just standing in the doorway watching Emma babble to RJ. Nudging him out of the way, Ray looked closely at his face. As usual when Clay was looking at Emma, there was a certain tenderness that came over his face. Teasingly Ray joked, "You seeing your future here brother?" Not expecting the smile that crossed his face or the small nod.

Softly Clay replied, "Yeah brother, that's my future." Pushing off the doorway, Clay went into the kitchen and dished out some pizza for Emma and himself before setting it down on the table.

"Alright boys, let's eat," Emma said taking her seat at the table. When she tried to hand RJ back over to Ray, the waterworks started again and Emma eventually just settled him in her lap, cutting up pieces of pizza for RJ.

"Gentleman, and lady, for our viewing pleasure we have one of the greatest movies with the best actor of all time,"

"Sonny, we don't want to see another one of your home movies," Brock quipped out, happy to be seated at the table with his brothers.

"No, you doofus. I am talking about Clint Eastwood in his best film, Gran Torin." At the blank stares on their faces, Sonny scowled. "Listen here you pansies, it is my turn to choose the movie so I don't want to hear any arguments from the peanut gallery."

At their nods and barely concealed snickers, the six men, one girl, and one toddler made their way to the living room and settled in for the movie. Emma and RJ, Clay, and Trent on the big couch, Sonny in his armchair, Brock and Ray on the smaller couch, and Jason squished on the floor with Mikey.

Wrapping his arms around Emma, Clay watched as she played with the baby on her chest silently, not paying any mind to the movie that was playing. When she noticed that his eyes were starting to droop as he played, Emma shifted him closer until his head rested on her neck and patted his bottom to try and sway him into sleep. Clay leaned into the arm of the couch and pulled her closer to him until he felt her body relax into his, half of her upper body resting against his, legs curled up underneath her butt. Hearing her breathing even out, Clay glanced down and noted the tranquil expression on her face that mirrored the expression on Rj's little face. Clay tried to focus on the movie, but as usual the Western that Sonny had chosen bored him to tears. With his girl in his arms, safe in his boss's house, Clay let him eyes drift shut and tipped his head back.

The only sound in the room was the intensity of the movie playing on the screen until Trent looked over at Emma, half expecting her to be on her phone. When he saw Emma, Clay, and RJ all curled up together, sleeping, he couldn't resist.

"Hey Son," Trent said softly.

"Be quiet, it is just starting to get good," Sonny admonished, not sparing him a glance as he focused on his idol on the screen.

"Ray," he tried again, someone needed to take a picture of this, it was too cute to pass up, and he was man enough to admit that he wanted a picture of it too.

"Hmm?" Ray said, glancing at him. Once Trent caught his eye, he jerked his head over in the direction of the kids sleeping on the other side of the couch.

"Well they're certainly getting closer," Ray mused. It didn't shock him that the kid and Emma were starting to plan a life together, but if RJ had blonde hair, he could very easily be mistaken for their kid.

"Get a picture of this, a nice one not a snapchat," Trent instructed.

Ray chuckled and pulled out his phone, snapping a picture with the flash on before glancing down at Jason. Seeing the scowl on his face, Ray couldn't hold his tongue.

"What's on your mind Jay? The kid's good for her, she's good for him. They're not holed up in her room somewhere, his hands are all in appropriate place, hell Emma's got my kid on her chest. What more could you ask for?"

"Nothing, Ray, nothing. I just don't want her growing up,"

"Listen, I love that you both are having a heart to heart here, but sunshine is already grown and wonder boy is good for her. My movie is still playing, so kindly, if you please, stop yapping." Sonny shot them down, eyes still trained on the TV screen.

The movie quieted down from the blaze of glory when the men heard a whimper come from deep in Emma's throat. The TV was muted faster than Sonny could blink. All six heads whipped to face Emma, whose face was scrunched up, a tear dripping down her face, fingers twisting RJ's shirt tightly. Before Jason could reach over, Clay wrapped his arms tighter around the pair, pressing a barely there kiss into her hair. The men watched in amazement as Emma's face relaxed back into slumber and her grip on RJs shirt loosened.

"Well, Jason, I don't really know what else you could want," Ray said, gesturing to Emma and Clay. "That's what I want for Jameelah one day, what I want for RJ."

Jason nodded thoughtfully, running his hand down Mikey's back as he slumbered. The kid didn't even make the first half hour of the movie before knocking. "I know," He muttered softly. Alana would be having kittens at the sight of Emma curled up like that. He was sure that there was a picture of the two of them curled up like Clay and Emma were. "I want that picture, Ray."

Ray nodded, not wanting to rock the boat more than necessary. It seemed that Jason was more accepting than he thought.

The rest of the movie passed without issue and the boys quietly packed up the remaining two beer cans and cleaned the kitchen. Trent hoisted Mikey onto the small couch, getting him settled underneath a blanket before helping Brock pack up Cerberus. Waving goodbye to Ray, Sonny, and Jason, Trent shook his head. Would they ever learn? No one could tell Emma what to do or who to see, she would make that decision for herself and Lord help anyone who stood in her way.

As Sonny and Jason went to put away the pizza, Ray moved towards the sleeping pair, trying not to wake any of them. Untangling Emma's hands from RJ, he picked the sleeping toddler up gently when he felt a hand on his wrist.

"I got him brother, take care of our girl here," Ray watched as Clay nodded sleepily and shift Emma so that she was more fully across his lap and spread the blanket so that it covered her fully, even if it left him exposed.

Ray smiled, there really wasn't anyone better for his goddaughter. He only prayed that one day Jameelah would find a man that cared for her the way that Clay cared, no , loved, Emma.


	5. Chapter 5

Emma stared at the kitchen in disbelief. There was paint everywhere, a Disney movie was playing on the television, and there were dishes in the sink that needed cleaning. Sighing, Emma set to work at putting away the paint, laughing at the image that Jameelah had painted on the computer paper that she unearthed for her. Childish stick figures of Aunt Naima and Uncle Ray stood hand in hand surrounded by hearts, she really was too much sometimes.

The pair had dropped off Jameelah and RJ off earlier that evening so that they could go out for the evening while the rest of Bravo had to go out on a training exercise. Emma had jumped at the chance to spend the evening with her two favorite kiddos, but they both had neglected to mention that Jameelah was in a mood and RJ was cutting a tooth. Either way, they were both down for the night, or at least Emma hoped they would be, RJ had finally stopped crying and was sleeping on the couch with Jameelah curled up in the armchair.

Finally washing the last dish, Emma sank down at the table and glanced at her phone, surprised to find a message from Clay, time stamped for three hours earlier.

"Going out on a training OP with Echo, should be a couple of hours. See you tomorrow?"

Typing out a quick message in response, Emma rested her hand in her hands. All she had to do now was wait for Uncle Ray and Aunt Naima to show up and pick up the kids. Before Emma could even open her laptop, she heard a whimper coming from RJ. Sighing, Emma picked him up and held him close as crocodile tears dripped down his face. Singing gently, Emma swayed back and forth picturing a future where the children she held were blonde and held impish grins like the one that would cross Clay's face. Emma shifted RJ in her arms, grateful that he had fallen asleep again. Emma was startled out of her thoughts when a pair of arms wrapped around her waist. A scream built up in her throat as her arms tightened around RJ, but before the scream could bubble out, Emma heard Clay's low chuckle.

Clay was having a rough night. Being called in for a training mission for Echo without his brothers wasn't high on the list of priorities, but when command called, you went. Shouldering his rifle, Clay walked quietly through the hangar where they were training. His job was to clear the room while the other team took care of the target package on the roof, but of course, it went to shit.

Everything happened so fast, Clay didn't even see what set the flashbang off, the next thing he knew he was flat on his back and there was a steady warmth dripping down his forehead. Faces swam over his head, but Clay couldn't quite make out what they were saying, ears still ringing.

"Kid! Hey kid! Look at me,"

"He probably can't hear you, hey Clay, raise your hand if you can hear me"

"Shit, someone go get Bravo, they're on base,"

"We're fucked dude, Hayes is gonna kill you. Everyone knows not to fuck with Spenser"

"I didn't know that it would fucking explode, it's a simulation,"

Clay felt hands unstrapping his gear and for a moment he forgot where he was and who he was with, it sure as hell wasn't his brothers. His head hurt, his ears were still ringing and he was confused. Where was he? When the hands reached down to take the gun out of his hands, he struggled away from them. Batting their hands away, Clay rolled onto his stomach, intent on crawling towards the exit, scrambled mind thinking he was in a desert somewhere.

"Spenser! Stay still!"

Clay stilled, he knew that voice. Trent rarely, if ever, raised his voice around the team. The only time that Clay could ever truly recall Trent raising his voice is in the field for an injury.

Huh.

Regardless, Clay froze, still on his belly.

"Someone had better start talking. Now." And there was Jason.

"Clay, hey brother, can you flip over?" Trent's voice broke through his musing. Why would he want to turn over? Oh right, he was on his belly.

Clay nodded and started to roll, but got caught along the way throughout the various attachments that were half on his body and half on the ground.

Shaking his head, Trent made quick work of the remaining ammo packs and chest plate. Clay Spenser was one of the best men to have watching your back, but when he got whacked in the head, he turned into a certified toddler.

Trusting that Trent would only take off what was absolutely necessary, Clay relaxed on his back. A dull throbbing was pounding in his head and his forehead still felt sticky. Raising his hand to try and brush over his temple, his hand was quickly caught.

"Don't touch," Trent said firmly, placing his hand back down on the ground.

"What's the damage Trent?" Jason said, fuming over the incompetence that led to a training accident that had nearly taken out his rookie.

"I'm assuming they pulled out the flashbang and it dropped through the roof?" Trent drolled, finishing the rapid assessment. Aside from the obvious bleeding on his forehead, Clay wasn't any worse for wear. The amount of blood that was pouring from the gash near his temple was slightly alarming, but it was Clay. And head wounds bled a lot.

"From what I understand, still confused as to how they thought they could use a flashbang inside a hangar," Jason scoffed.

The punk ass kid who had come to find him and Trent racked out on base had taken years off of his life, but seeing Clay on the floor, Jason swore again.

"What?" Trent asked as he finished getting Clay out of his gear. The kid had a scratch, maybe, maybe a mild concussion. Not nearly enough for the blue streak that just came out of Jason's mouth.

"I have to call Emma," Jason said quietly.

That one sentence seemed to break through the haze surrounding Clay. Struggling to sit up, Clay mumbled, "That's really not a good idea Jace,"

"Kid, if she sees you later this week and you've got a gash on your forehead, she's gonna be pissed. Better to get ahead of it then have to make it up to her," Jason tried to explain, remembering the fights he and Emma had gotten into when he 'forgot' to mention any injuries that he got while on a mission.

"Boss, you call her she's gonna think it's KIA. Texted her before I left that I was going on a training mission."

Rubbing his hand over his beard, Jason thought for a moment. He didn't want to scare Emma, but not telling her would make her mad at him…

"It should be a quick fix Jay, I'll stitch it and he'll be good to go in an hour or so once the meds wear off," Trent sat back on his heels. Once the words training accident left the Echo team's 2IC, he didn't hear anything else. He grabbed his kit and ran. Seeing him on his belly, face covered in blood, Trent thought the worst. But now that the adrenaline was fading, he was more annoyed than anything. How the fuck did Spenser manage to cut his forehead in a room without any sharp objects. Flipping through the laminated sheets clipped to his kit, Trent searched for the purple card that would tell him all of the medication allergies that Clay had acquired, or at least the ones that they had confirmed.

"No meds, Trent. You give me meds it'll take hours before I can get to Em," Clay said quietly.

Trent paused, hand stilling over a vial of liquid tylenol. Clay had a decent pain tolerance, but even he would want to medicate someone with an excellent pain tolerance for stitches on their face. "You sure Clay, gonna hurt."

"It already hurts, can't be much worse," Clay sighed. Finally the ringing in his ears was going away and he could concentrate again, definitely no concussion.

"Tylenol's not gonna make you cloudy, not sure it's even gonna make a dent," Trent wheedled. Clay was a hard nut to crack when he made his mind up about something.

"No meds,"

"Ok, Jay help me get him up," Grabbing one outstretched hand, Jason hoisted Clay up and steadied him as he got his balance before walking back to their bunks.

"Only you kid," Jason muttered. Thank goodness it wasn't anything serious, they were due to leave for Mexico any week and having Spenser out of the game would throw a wrench into the team.

Back in the cages, Clay stayed perfectly still while Trent looked at the cut from all angles, trying to see how he was going to stitch it up without mangling his face any further.

"Any chance you could just slap some butterfly bandages on it and let me go?" Clay said, wincing when Trent prodded it with a gloved finger.

"Yeah, it'll have to do, I can't stitch your ugly mug. What the fuck did you cut it on anyways?"

"The butt of my gun I think?" Clay said sheepishly, ducking his head to avoid the admonishing grin that flashed over his face.

Smoothing the last butterfly bandage on his forehead, Trent surveyed his handiwork, then took a good look at Clay. His knee was bouncing, fingers tapping out a frenzied beat on his kid looked like he wanted to be anywhere but here, and Trent couldn't really blame him. The first training accident he had after he met his wife shook him up too.

"Go see Em, you're good to go," Trent peeled off his gloves, laughing when Clay sprung up from the bench.

"Thanks Trent," Clay said over his shoulder as he jogged out to his truck. It wasn't late, so Emma should still be awake, but the real question is if he would make it to her house before Jason got home.

"You going after him Jay?" Trent asked when he spied Jason standing in his cage.

"Gonna give him a half hour, kid looks shaken up," Jason said, looking at Trent, not liking the small smile that was growing over Trent's face. "What?"

"Nothing, just glad you're letting Em make her decisions here," Trent said, packing his med kit back up. Trent would support Emma and Clay's relationship any way that he could, even if that meant going to bat for them with the boss.

"As if she'd let me make any decisions for her," Jason muttered.

"You got that right brother, I'll see you Monday" Shaking his head, Trent walked out the door intent on going home and spending the night with his wife, he deserved it after the day he had.

Pulling up to the curb, Clay was relieved to see the kitchen light still on. Walking up the driveway, Clay grinned. Surprising Emma was hard to do, but if she thought he was supposed to be on a training mission… Turning the knob silently, Clay creeped behind Emma and tiptoed into the kitchen, wrapping his arms around her waist from behind, chuckling slightly.

"Clay!" Emma exclaimed spinning around in his arms, heart pounding in her chest. Holding RJ on her left hip, Emma smacked Clay's shoulder. "You scared me you ass, what was that for?"

"Nothin' Emmie K, just wanted to surprise you. Not often I get to pull one over ya," Clay chuckled, still holding her close.

"Next time, please try not to do that when I'm holding a baby in my arms please," Emma rested her forehead against his shoulder, thankfully RJ was still asleep.

"What if I like watching you hold a baby?" Clay murmured, gaze softening.

"Then watch me hold RJ, don't scare me!" Emma said, stepping out of his embrace. Putting RJ back down on the couch, Emma got a good look at Clay's face. "Clay," Emma whispered.

"I'm alright babe, just a training accident. Trent patched me up,"

Emma reached up and traced one finger gently over the bandages over his left eyebrow.

"I know, I just don't like it when you're hurting," Emma said softly.

"I know," Clay kissed her cheek and took in the sight of the two Perry children racked out on the couch. "Babysitting?"

"Yeah, Aunt Naima asked me to last minute, I only just got them to sleep," Emma said, sitting on the counter in front of Clay. "I actually wanted to talk to you about something, but we've never really had a minute," Emma said, unconsciously biting her lip.

"Go for it Em, anything," Clay braced himself when he saw her bite her lip. It still drove him crazy every single time.

"Dad and I were talking the other day about school, I, uh, picked a school," Emma said, looking at Clay.

"That's great babe, where?" Clay forced his voice to be light, unsure if Emma was going to ask him if he would be ok with her going to New York.

"Old Dominion, maybe forty five minutes from here, I'm going to commute, but that's not what I actually wanted to talk to you about, um I picked a major too,"

Clay was silently relieved that she had picked a school close. "I'm gonna go out on a limb here and guess that it's not music,"

"No, it's not. I decided to go for nursing," Emma paused, waiting for Clay's reaction.

"I think it's a great idea, Em. You'll be a great nurse," Clay whispered. He could see it, Emma walking through a busy emergency room, helping people wherever she went. It was perfect.

"I'm waiting to see if I got into their accelerated program, but I wanted to tell you first," Emma said, ducking her head shyly.

"I'm honored, babe. When do you find out?" Clay moved to stand in front of Emma.

"Sometime next week I think, the deposits were due last month," Emma looked at Clay, still biting her lip absently.

"When you get in, we'll go out to celebrate ok?" Clay smoothed his hand down, Emma's shoulder, feeling the warmth of her skin through her sweater.

Placing her hands on his chest, Emma kissed Clay gently. Happy that he was safe in her arms, Emma let herself sink into the kiss. Sliding her arms up his chest and around his neck, Emma let Clay fall in between her legs, trying to get as close to him as possible, gasping when she felt Clay's pelvis bump against hers.

Emma tried to keep herself in control, but when Clay started to kiss down her neck and nip at her jaw, all bets were off. Sliding her hands under Clay's shirt, Emma was just reaching down to the buckle on his pants when a small voice broke through.

"Emmie?" Jameelah asked, thumb slipping unconsciously in her mouth.

Breaking away from Clay with a gasp, Emma shoved Clay away from her and hopped off the counter to go towards Jameelah. "What is it honey?"Emma tried to calm her fast beating heart, hoping that the girl didn't see too much that she shouldn't have.

"Were you just kissing Uncle Clay?"

Emma floundered for a bit, looking back to find Clay gone from the kitchen, most likely to the bathroom to calm himself down.

"Yeah honey, I was kissing Uncle Clay, is that ok?" Emma held her breath, you never knew what was going to come out of Jameelah's mouth sometimes.

"Uh huh," Jameelah twirled in her footie pajamas.

"What woke you pretty girl, it's far past your bedtime," Emma grabbed her hand, intent on bringing her back to the couch. Nine o'clock was far too late for little girls to be awake.

"I missed daddy," Jameelah whined, tears pooling in her eyes.

Emma mentaly steeled herself for the waterworks, sure that she was going to start wailing and wake RJ as well.

"Hey Jameelah," Clay said, crouching next to her. "Wanna know a secret?"

Jameelah nodded, sending tears sprinkling out of her eyes.

"If you close your eyes, the next time you wake up, you'll see Daddy,"

"Really?" Jameelah dragged out, tears magically drying.

"Yeah, but only if you go to sleep and we don't wake RJ,"

Emma threw him an appreciative glance when Jameelah nodded and pulled her over to the couch. Once she had settled herself, Emma gave her a kiss on her forehead and covered her with the blanket. Dragging Clay outside, Emma was relieved to see Aunt Naima getting out of the car.

"Were they good?" Aunt Naima asked, hoping her children didn't pose any problems.

A lot of things were on the tip of Emma's tongue, but she simply said, "Of course, you know they always are Aunt Naima. Both of them are sleeping, but Jameelah might still be awake, she was up a few minutes ago but Clay and I got her back down."

"Alright, help me put them in their car seats and we'll get out of your hair,"

Walking back into the living room, Emma sighed in relief that Jameelah was asleep. There didn't need to be any awkward conversations right at this moment, though she was sure that they would come up eventually.

Holding onto RJ, Emma glanced over at Naima holding Jameelah, blushing at the thought of being caught by the child.

"Honey with the way you're blushing, I'm guessing Clay didn't just come over to say goodnight," Naima grinned knowingly.

Emma could never lie to Naima and the words spilled out faster than she wanted. "I would never when I was watching the kids, he surprised me and …"

"Honey it happens to the best of us, just be careful, kids see everything, and I mean everything," Naima winked and laughed as Emma flushed. Walking over to the car, Naima put her babies in the back seat and hurried her husband back into the car, the night was still young after all.

Clay ambled back over to Emma as they watched the car drive off.

"And this is where we say goodnight, I don't think your dad would like it if I stayed over again," Clay said, looking down at Emma.

"I would like it, but you're right."

With one last kiss, Emma watched as he got into his truck and drove away, face still flushed at the thought of being caught. Hopefully sometime soon they would get another opportunity to be alone, without the danger of being caught. By anyone.


	6. Chapter 6

Emma sat in the parking lot of the ice rink, anxiously checking her phone. Mikey was due out of his varsity tryouts any minute, but there was still no word from him either way. Which could mean that he wants to tell her in person that he made it, or that he wants to rant about how he didn't make the team. Tapping the screen of her phone when a message popped up, Emma looked at the picture of her and Clay on the lock screen. It was always hard when they were on missions and they didn't know how long they'd be gone for, but the random check ins always made her day. Even in a war torn country, whenever Clay found something beautiful, he thought of Emma and tried his best to share it with her.

Typing out her reply, Emma didn't see when Mikey came out of the arena until she felt the bed of the truck dip when his hockey bag got thrown in the back. Setting her phone aside, Emma sat semi-patiently until Mikey opened the door.

"Well?" Emma got out excitedly, half bouncing in her seat.

"I did it Emmie, I made varsity," Mikey said, grin stretching from ear to ear. It had been a long time since he had felt this happy, probably long before his mother had died and Emma had started to date Clay. Things were slowly going back to normal.

"Mikey man, I am so proud of you!" Emma squealed, leaning across the truck to hold her brother close. She had hoped that it would turn out this way, but didn't want to assume either way. "Anything you want for dinner, you got it, ok?"

"Can you make spaghetti tacos?" Mikey asked timidly, mom would have made that for him if she was still here. She made it every time something went well.

"Yeah Mikey, I can do that," Emma pulled out of the lot, putting her blinker on to merge onto the freeway. They drove in silence for a moment, a route that they had driven hundreds of times before. Emma spared Mikey a sideways glance, smiling at the happy expression on his face.

"Hey Em, do you think that we can try and call Dad tonight? I want to tell him that I made the team, he's gonna be so happy,"

"I think they're trying to wrap everything up, at least that's what Clay told me a little while ago. I don't know if he'll be in the air when we call, but we can definitely try." Emma didn't want to burst his bubble, but she knew that by the time they had gotten home, made dinner, and got to call dad, he would be flying home. Hopefully they would be home by tomorrow morning and she could try and put something together for Mikey, but that would have to wait. No use planning something if the boys weren't going to be home.

Driving carefully through the streets, Emma was almost home, the relief of not having to move flooded her body. She could go home, make dinner, and then go to sleep and not have to set an alarm for the following morning. Clay would be home, and she could rest.

Then everything happened all at once.

There was the sound of squealing tires, the crunch of plastic, the shattering of glass.

Emma jerked forwards and back, head smacking on the steering wheel.

She distantly heard screaming, heard sirens, heard sobbing.

Panicking Emma tried to reach for her phone, call dad, he had to know she was ok.

Her heart stuttered, call Clay. She never got to tell him that she loved him.

Then to reach for Mikey. She couldn't lose him too.

The last thing she remembered thinking was that her mom must have been so scared, she was all alone. Then nothing until she was staring at Aunt Naima's worried face.

Naima was having a quiet day in the Emergency Department, something that happened often but was never spoken about. You never wanted to jinx anyone and a surefire way to do that was to even think about the 'Q' word. The phone rang and the moment was gone.

Picking up the phone, Naima picked up her pen and her report sheet in her other hand, ready to take the report from EMS.

"Memorial Medical, this is trauma one, how copy?"

"Good Copy, Memorial. Two victim MVA, car was hit from the rear. One male, fourteen years old. Walkie Talkie. Vitals stable in the field, no obvious injuries. Inconsolable, shocky. One female, eighteen years old. Concussed, slight laceration on the forehead. Stabilized in a c-collar in the field, vitals are stable."

"Any obvious deformities? Any fluids running for either of them?" Naima wrote down the ages, thinking of Mikey and Emma. The ages were similar, but it couldn't be them. They were home for night already. Forcing her mind back to the task at hand, Naima shoved those thoughts into the tiny box that existed at the back of her mind for moments like this.

"Nothing's obviously broken or dislocated. We have heated normal saline running on the female, but the male refused anything. Kept asking for someone named Trent, unsure of who that is, can't get much more from him. We've got warming blankets on the kid, but he's still real shocky. "

Naima's stomach dropped. The pieces clicking in her brain. Mikey had hockey tryouts tonight, Emma was the only one who could pick him up because she had to pull a double. Mikey was fourteen. Mikey knew to ask paramedics for Trent if he got into trouble. Mikey knew to refuse anything he didn't know of, especially if Emma wasn't able to respond. It was Mikey and Emma.

Naima forced herself to stay calm. Surely it was a coincidence. It couldn't be. It just couldn't. "Did you get any names, any allergies?"

"Michael and Emma Hayes. No allergy information yet, she's out of it."

Hearing the words come over the phone, Naima took a deep breath. She needed to stay calm. Emma needed her to stay calm. "Ok, how far out are you?"

"Five minutes, anything else you need memorial?" The paramedic sounded anxious, and there was the sound of sobbing coming through the phone.

"Yeah, do me a favor and don't give any meds until they get to the ED. Other than that, I'll see you when you arrive."

"You got it Memorial, Trauma One out," The line clicked and Naima sprung into action. Thankfully the ED wasn't busy and she snagged the double trauma bay closest to the nurses station, hoping that Mikey and Emma wouldn't need to use all of the supplies that she had gathered in the room. Turning towards the entrance, Naima waited, forcing her breath to regulate itself. She would be of no use if she was panicking as well.

The doors opened. Mikey was walking along with one of the paramedics, tears still steadily dripping down his face, silver shock blanket wrapped tightly in his fingers. Emma followed, wheeled in on a stretcher by the second paramedic.

As soon as Emma stopped moving, Mikey moved to hold onto her hand, not saying a word.

"You good here?"

Naima nodded, going towards Mikey. Gently touching his shoulder, Naima was prepared for Mikey to react violently. Shock did funny things to normally mild mannered individuals. But Mikey didn't react, just stared silently.

"Mikey, honey, it's Aunt Naima."

No response. Naima gently removed the blanket from his shoulders, and pried his hand away from Emma. Nodding to the other nurse, Naima allowed Emma to be wheeled into CT, hoping and praying that there wouldn't be any fractures present. Emma was wide eyed, terror written on her face. Looking over the stretcher, Naima was pleased to see that she was shifting on the bed, trying to turn her head, a good sign that nothing was broken. Naima knew what, or rather who, she was looking for.

"Emma, Emma stop moving. Mikey's here with me. He's fine."

Emma froze, Aunt Naima was here, she was fine. Mikey was fine.

"They're going to take you to a big machine, I want you to stay as still as you can, ok?"

Naima hoped that Emma was with it enough to understand what she was saying. She waited a moment for Emma to process the information when her rough voice scratched out, "Take care of Mikey, call Clay, where's Clay."

"I will honey, he'll be here soon. Mikey's safe with me," Naima watched a tear fall down her goddaughter's face, itching to wipe it for her. Turning to Mikey, Naima crouched down beside him.

"Mikey, I need to talk to you, can you come sit on the bed with me?"

Still no response. But he moved when prodded and sat down on the bed. Naima took his vitals and had him lie down on the bed.

Her pager beeped, Emma's scans were up. Clicking through the CT scans, Naima sent up a silent prayer of thanks. No breaks, no bleeds. A completely benign CT scan. She was lucky.

"Is Emma going to die Aunt Naima?" Mikey's voice broke through her silent celebration.

Naima whirled around. "No baby, Emmie's going to be just fine. No one's dying today." Her heart broke at the sight of his tear stained cheeks and ghostly white skin. This whole situation was entirely too close to home, Alana hadn't even been in the ground six months and here they were, in the hospital for yet another accident.

"Can you call dad? I don't know where my phone is, and Emma's is busted right now," Mikey sniffed, doing his best to stop the flood of tears, but they kept coming. His dad wasn't here, he needed to be a man, he needed to be ok for Emma.

"Yeah baby, I'm gonna put in a few calls," Naima sat on the edge of the bed and smoothed Mikey's fine hair away from his face. "Emma's going to be wheeled right next to you once she comes back from getting pictures taken. She might be awake, but she might be asleep. She's pretty banged up right now, but she's not dying. I'll be here with you the whole time, but I have to go and call your dad. Are you going to be ok if I'm right out in the hallway?"

Mikey nodded, and Naima brushed a kiss on his forehead. "You're being so brave Mikey man, it's almost over, I promise."

Naima stood, hands shaking as she pulled out her cellphone. This was the first time that she had to use the patented 'Jason Hayes Check In System' for something that wasn't a check in. This wasn't going to go well, at all.

Dialing Jason's number, Naima knew that there was a chance that he wouldn't pick up. Ray and the boys had left for an OP not three days before.

The phone rang, and rang, and rang. No answer. Damn.

The next person on the list was Clay. Naima didn't want to have to tell him that Emma was in the hospital, but if she couldn't get Jason… he was next. Naima just hoped that they were somewhere safe where he could explode in private.

The phone rang, and rang, and rang. Fucking hell.

Naima wiped her palms on her scrub pants. Both men had to be busy if they weren't answering the Sat Phone, it was only used for one thing, and usually it was her number being dialed, not the other way around.

The last person on the list was Lisa Davis, and Naima sent a glance to the sky. If she didn't answer, it was back to square one until someone picked up the damn phone.

Crossing her fingers, Naima dialed with shaky fingers, heaving a sigh of relief when Lisa Davis' exhausted voice punched through her shaking breaths and trembling thoughts.

Lisa Davis sighed in relief. ISR showed no enemy targets on the compound, signaling mission completion. The boys were safe and would be boarding the plane once they made it back to the OPs center. No one was hurt. Blackburn didn't even have to break out the Pepto.

Then the phone rang. Not just any phone.

The Sat Phone.

The one that sat in the middle of the table whenever they were away from home.

The one used for check ins.

Scrambling, Davis shoved papers out of the way and answered the phone with a tense hello, ignoring the looks that Blackburn was throwing her way. The significance of that phone wasn't lost on him, this could get messy.

"Lisa, it's Naima. There was an accident,"

The breath that Davis was holding in her chest, blew out as she sank back into her seat with shaky legs. This couldn't be happening. Not again. "An accident?" Lisa said weakly, putting her head in her hands. "Who?"

"Emma and Mikey, they were hit from behind."

"Are they," Lisa paused, trying to swallow the lump that was building in her throat. "Do I need to have someone deliver a notification?"

Lisa felt Blackburn come to stand next to her, there would only be one reason that this team would need a notification.

"No! No, they're fine! Emma was driving Mikey home from the arena and got hit from behind. Mikey's fine, but Emma's a little banged up "

"Define banged up Naima," Lisa ground out, hoping that it was a bump on the head, or a broken wrist. The boys wouldn't, couldn't, handle anything else. As it was tensions were high. Arguments had popped up at every turn and no one was exactly pleased with one another. And Mandy was making life difficult to boot.

"She's concussed, doesn't know where she is, but wants Clay. Slight laceration to her forehead from her head hitting the steering wheel. It doesn't look like anything's broken from the CT scans, but she's sore."

"And Mikey?"

"Completely fine. In shock, wants Jason. I need you to get both of them here as soon as possible. How far out are you?" Naima hoped that they were somewhere close. She never knew where they went on their missions, but from the sounds of it, they were at least on the same continent. She hoped.

"If we rush, two hours. We're pretty local," Lisa looked at Eric, trying to communicate without words that they needed to wrap things up.

"I need you to tell the boys, they're wheeling Emma back. None of them answered the phone when I called," Naima stood up from her seat at the computer. They had removed the collar from around her neck and stitched up the gash on her forehead and put her into a hospital gown. She looked rough, bruises covered her face and arms.

"Ok, I'll be sending them as soon as they can get there. Take care of them Naima,"

Hanging up the phone, Lisa looked at Eric. "Do I tell them now, or do we wait?"

Eric rubbed his hands through the thinning hair on his head. Telling them now would make them panic on the plane ride home, and tensions were already high. If they waited and Emma got worse, there would definitely be a brawl. And technically the mission wasn't completed yet.

"We wait, I'll get them here in an hour." Eric keyed the coms, hoping that his men were calm.

"TOC for Bravo One," Eric waited for a response, rehearsing what he was going to say to them when he received an answer.

"Bravo One, go for TOC."

"Prepare for immediate exfil, chopper's incoming. Make sure everyone gets on the damn bird Jason. TOC out,"

Blackburn didn't give him an opportunity to question, hoping that he was making the right decision. Pacing back and forth in the small room, Eric and Lisa counted down the minutes until the men walked through the doors. Sweaty, dirty, tired. But alive.

Seeing their weary faces, Lisa knew that it was the right decision to wait, but she was still dreading having to give them bad news.

Lisa stood on shaky legs and waited for each man to find a seat around the table. No one said a word. Looking back at Blackburn, Lisa wasn't sure that she could do this.

"Alright boys, I'm gonna rip the bandaid off here," Blackburn said from the head of the table. "Lisa received a phone call on the Sat phone two hours ago from Naima," Holding up his hand to quiet the men he continued. "Emma and Mikey were in an accident. They were brought to Memorial via ambulance where Naima took the report from the paramedics and spoke with Mikey."

He paused for a moment, and waited for the explosion.

It never came.

The boys went right from panic into mission mode.

Jason stood abruptly from the table, started taking off all the gear that was still clipped to his uniform and dumped it all on the table. "Ray, you're in charge. Make sure the cages get put together and the AARs are finished. Trent, you're with me. Let's move,"

Clay stood as well, intent on going to his truck, but was interrupted by Ray's hand on his shoulder. "Brother, you have to stay here, Mandy needs you to translate,"

"Ray. Are you hearing yourself right now? If this was Naima would you be standing here right now?" Clay couldn't believe what he was hearing. His thoughts were focused on one thing, he needed to get to Emma.

"I wouldn't be standing here brother, you're right. But the OP isn't done yet, and I need you to keep your head in the game so that Jason can give you a SitRep later. I promise you, if he calls, you'll be the first one I grab. The sooner you translate for Mandy the faster you'll get to Emma," Ray tried to keep Clay from going off the rails. The kid made good points though, if it was him, he would have been out the door already.

Clay took a deep breath in and out. Ray was right, but that didn't make the racing thoughts calm down any more than the other platitudes that were being thrown at him. Looking Ray in the eyes, Clay whispered. "Ray, I need you to promise me something."

"Anything brother,"

"The minute you hear anything, the minute Emma can call me herself or Jason can get her to a phone, you get me. I don't care if I'm in the middle of translating or writing a report or taking a shit. You come get me. We clear?"

"Yeah man, I can do that," Ray watched as Clay put himself back together, shoving his emotions in the tiny little box that existed in the back of his mind. Straightening his spine, Ray sent a prayer up that Emma would call sooner rather than later. He didn't know if Clay would be able to hold it together for very long.

Trent drove like a madman, barely paying attention to the traffic that surrounded the hospital. Jason was silent, counting each and every car that passed them. Screeching into the ambulance bay, Trent saw Naima and carefully scrutinized her expression.

She looked tired, tense. But she didn't look upset, a good sign.

Before Trent could even put the car into park, Jason was out the door.

"Naima! Naima!" Jason panted, legs trembling.

"Jason, I need you to take a deep breath." Naima waited until some of the panic left Jason's eyes and he looked less like a soldier and more like a concerned father, not that there was much of a difference at this point. "I just got Mikey calmed down, he's been asking for you nonstop and if you go in there panicked, he's going to get upset. I won't let you in there like this,"

Jason let out a shuddering breath, Naima would make good on her word if he didn't settle.

"Ok, I'll let you in, but you should see Mikey first. Emma is still out of it, they had to give her a sedative for CT and she's not reacting well. Is Clay on his way?"

Jason shook his head. "He's gotta finish the AARs and the translation first, I came ahead of everyone else."

At Naima's disapproving look, Jason rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. He knew that Clay deserved to be here as well, but sometimes the mission had to come first. The kid needed to learn that the mission had to come first.

Walking side by side, Naima and Jason went into the trauma bay that held Emma and Mikey and his heart beat rapidly in his chest as he stood and watched his children. Emma was pale, bruises and blood everywhere. Mikey in the bed next to her, holding her hand. As close to her as he could be without being in the same bed. Tear tracks were still drying on his cheeks, but he was fine. Healthy, whole.

They were both alive.

"Dad!" Mikey exclaimed.

"Hey bub," Jason whispered, going over to the other side of the bed and sitting down on the edge. "How are you?"

Jason watched as his eyes filled with tears, silent and painful. His heart broke for him, but as the adrenaline wore off, the tears would stop.

"I'm sorry dad, it's all my fault!" Mikey cried, the fears finally coming to a head.

"Mikey man, it's not your fault," Jason pulled him into his arms on the bed, keeping an eye on Emma in the bed next to them.

"Emma was driving me home from tryouts, it was my fault that she was in the car, it was my fault that we were driving late at night, it's all my fault,"

"Mikey, it's not your fault. You didn't cause this, I promise. You know that I'd never lie to you right?" Jason waited for Mikey to breathe, felt his head nod against his chest.

"Emma looked just like mom, when we first got into the accident. We were talking about how she was going to make spaghetti tacos for dinner cause I made varsity and she sounded just like mom did when she was happy and I was so scared dad, I thought she was dead."

"I know Mikey, but she's not. She's ok, look over at her. She's just sleeping,"

Jason felt Mikey take another shuddering breath and the tears made warm wet spots on his shirt. Holding him, Jason rocked him gently back and forth, hoping that it would put him to sleep just like it had as a baby. Distantly he felt his phone ring, but if they really needed him they could call Trent. He was with his family.

Clay was panicking, dialling Jason's number over and over again without any answer. He had finally finished the translation for Mandy and written a very hasty AAR. There was no reason for him to be detained on base anymore, so he's not going to wait.

Grabbing his jacket, Clay was prepared to race out the door when he saw Brock and Cerberus, standing with his car keys in hand.

"Brock, brother, I love you but if you don't let me go to Emma heads are gonna roll." Clay was done playing nice, he wanted to see Emma. He wanted to see Emma now.

"I'm not stopping you man, I just need you to promise me that you're not going to get into a wreck before Emma can even see you,"

"I won't, Brock. But the longer I stand here to more anxious I get," Clay bounced on the balls of his feet, looking at the clock. It had only been forty five minutes since Jason left, but it felt like hours.

"Ok, go get your girl." Brock handed over the keys and watched Clay speed away, hoping he had made the right choice.

Clay raced through the halls of the ED, still trying to dial Jason's cell with no answer. No one seemed to want to give him information, and his mind was immediately thinking the worst. Did Emma get worse? Was her condition more than what they said it was? Was she in surgery? Rounding the corner, Clay stopped short and let the tears that were welling up in his throat bubble over. Emma was lying there on the gurney, Bruised. Bloody.

"Emmie K," Clay forced out, ignoring Jason on the other bed. Dropping to the chair that was sat next to her bed, he picked up one of her hands in his, she was safe, she was alive.

"Clay?" Emma finally opened her eyes, fighting through the fog of medication to see if this Clay was real. The last few times she had opened her eyes, the Clay she saw disappeared whenever he got close to her bedside.

"Yeah honey, I'm here," Clay brought his hand to brush her face as a tear dripped down her cheek. Then the floodgates opened as more and more tears poured down her cheeks, adrenaline finally breaking to the surface after hours of forced calm.

"Emmie K, breathe babe, follow me," Clay forced his own breathing into a steady rhythm, hoping that it would be enough to calm Emma down from her panic.

"Clay," she gasped, holding her chest. "I can't, I, Clay." Her eyes were wide as she shot up in the bed, holding onto her chest.

Throwing a scathing glance at Jason, who was holding a tearful Mikey, he climbed into the bed behind her and tucked her head into the crook of his shoulder. "Breathe Emmie, I'm right here, you're ok, you're safe"

Clay continued to murmur platitudes and sweet nothings into her hair, breathing slowly and deeply. Running his fingers down her spine, Clay let a few tears of his own fall into her hair. He had come so close to losing her before they could even start their life together. Clay felt her breathing even out, the sobs slow, and the violent shaking quieted. Emma had fallen back into an uneasy slumber, eyebrows still pinched together.

"She needed me here Jace," Clay muttered, still twirling her hair in his hands.

"I know, but the mission had to come first. You needed to learn how to keep your head in the game, Clay."

There was silence between the two men, neither wanting to admit that the other was right.

"Are they being admitted?" Clay asked Naima, who had snuck into the room to take another set of vitals on the Hayes' children.

"No, I was just waiting on you to get the papers. Jason signed them already so you guys are good to go whenever. Mikey didn't get anything so he's good to go, but Emma got some propofol, she's been in an out. She's concussed, has a mild laceration above her right eyebrow, and whiplash. Nothing broken, but she's gonna be sore for a while. I'll be home tonight and I sent Trent back to the pharmacy to get her prescriptions filled."

"Thank you, Naima," Jason said quietly, looking over his sleeping children.

"Of course, Jason. You get Mikey home now ok?"

Jason nodded. Clay wasn't going to let go of Emma anytime soon.

"I'm taking Emma back to my place," Clay looked over at Jason, not giving him a chance to say no, he wasn't going to take no for an answer.

"Call me in the morning," Jason knew that there was no sense in arguing with Clay, if it had been Alana he would have done the same thing.

Clay nodded and scooped Emma up in his arms, throwing his jacket over her thin hospital gown to protect her from the chilly night air.

"Clay?" Emma mumbled. She was moving again, but the arms felt familiar and warm. She knew the scent of the cologne.

"I got you Emmie K, just rest. We're going home," Placing her in the front seat of his truck, Clay drove home, silently thanking anyone who would listen that Emma was still here with him. He finally understood what she went through when he was injured on a mission and he didn't know how she did it, she was by far tougher and braver than he was any day of the week. And damn if he didn't love her for it.


	7. Chapter 7

It was a rare moment alone where Emma had the house to herself. It was early December and Mikey was in the thick of his hockey season. Saturdays when Dad was home was reserved for taking Mikey and his friends to their tournaments, all day affairs that left Emma home alone from sunrise to sunset. Shivering lightly in the afternoon chill, Emma looked outside mournfully. The ground was covered in at least six inches of snow, hiding the pool and patio furniture.

Emma was not a fan of winter. It was cold, the ground was slippery, and she almost never got to see the sunlight. Although now that it was cold, it might be a good excuse to cuddle. Smiling to herself, Emma would never have pictured that Clay liked to cuddle, but every time they were together they ended up in each other's arms. Or more specifically on each other's laps.

And then that thought sent her into a tailspin.

Emma's face flushed as she thought of the last time that her and Clay were truly alone. Hips grinding, chests heaving, hands roaming. The man made her feel things that she couldn't replicate for herself, no matter how hard she tried. Looking at her phone, Emma bit her lip. She could just ask Clay to come over, she was sure that no healthy red-blooded male would turn down the opportunity for some alone time. But what if he was busy? Or didn't get the hint that she wanted more than just a regular movie night? That would be embarrassing. She would just have to make it super obvious, without being obvious. Great.

Emma opened her messenger app and started at the screen for a few minutes. Why was it so hard to write a message that said 'I want you to come over so we can make out' without actually saying that? Taking a deep breath Emma wrote: "Hey Clay, are you busy tonight ;) ?"

She waited a few minutes, took a sip from her water glass, then checked her phone. Surprised to see two text messages waiting for her, from Clay.

"Not tonight, I was just planning on staying in."

"What about you Em, anything planned?"

Emma grinned, maybe they were on the same page after all. Or maybe he just wanted to hang out with her. This whole thing was confusing, how did people do this on dating apps?

"Nothing planned, I'm just watching a movie. Come over?"

Emma watched the screen anxiously, the three gray little bubbles appeared for a long time. Then they went away. And came back again. Finally a message popped up, and Emma nearly threw her phone.

"Sounds perfect Em, do you want me to bring pizza?"

"Yeah if you don't mind, I didn't eat yet."

"Ok Emmie K, see ya soon."

Emma really tried to focus on the movie that she was watching. _To All the Boys I've Ever Loved Before _was a favorite of hers, but her thoughts kept straying to Clay. Were they just going to watch the movie? Was she supposed to change out of her pajamas into something sexier? Would Clay not get the hint? What if it was awkward? Taking a deep breath, Emma stayed put. Clay loved her for who she was and had kissed her when she looked far worse than she did now. It would be fine, hopefully more than fine.

Clay walked up the driveway, palms sweating and heart racing. Emma didn't normally just ask him to come over out of the blue, especially when he knew that Jason was out of town with Mikey. Not wanting to read into it, he knocked on the door, seeing the flashing lights of the television through the living room window. Maybe she did just want to snuggle.

The door opened, and Clay chuckled at the sight of Emma, clad in flannel long johns and a tank top. "Hi Emmie K."

Stepping into the warmth of the house, Clay glanced at the tv. A movie was already playing, and it looked like Emma had been curled up on the couch for a while.

"Hi Clay, thanks for coming over."

Something in her voice made Clay stop suddenly, she was biting her lip, looking up at him through her eyelashes. She was up to something.

"Of course Em, you know I'll always be here if we're not getting spun up." Clay walked over the table and put the pizza down, before turning around again, intent on kissing Emma properly. Curling his hands over her hips, Clay slotted his lips over hers over and over again until they were both breathless.

Panting, Clay asked lightly, "So what movie are we watching?"

Emma couldn't believe him. He had come in and kissed her like they were in a movie scene and then just stopped before it could go anywhere. Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, Emma replied, "It's a chick flick that I found on Netflix, we don't have to finish it if you don't want to."

"Nah it's fine Em, I can watch chick flicks with the best of 'em." Clay groaned internally, but was happy just to be sitting with her. Snuggling down on the couch, they sat in silence for a while before Emma sighed at the two characters in the hot tub.

"What's up, Em?"

"Huh? Oh I've just always wanted to try that," Emma said without thinking. Her cheeks flushed red and her eyes wide. "I can't believe I just said that out loud," She said, burying her face in her hands.

"Em, don't ever be ashamed to tell me what you want," Clay said, tugging her hands away from her face. "I'm never going to be disgusted or uncomfortable."

Emma looked at him before nodding, curling her legs underneath her. They continued to watch the movie before Clay interrupted again, brain still fixated on the newly discovered fantasy of Emma's.

"Em, what's stopping us from doing that right now?"

"Um, it's December, it's cold, you don't have a swim suit…" Emma trailed off, unable to provide any specific reason that they couldn't get in the hot tub.

"But I have some clothes in your room and you have a bathing suit. And the hot tub would keep us plenty warm." Clay rationalized, studying her face, looking for any signs of discomfort or apprehension.

"Are you saying that you want to do this?" Emma asked point blank. Yeah she asked him to come over because she wanted to have some alone time with him, but for him to suggest that they sit in a hot tub with very little clothing on… well that was a little different.

"Yeah Em, I am." Clay said bluntly, shifting so that Emma was facing him.

"Well then you should get something you want out of this too, pick out the bathing suit." Emma blurted out.

"Em, I promise you, I'm getting exactly what I want here. But I'll come pick one for ya." Clay wasn't going to turn down the opportunity to pick out what was essentially underwear for Emma, but he didn't want her to think that she needed to dress up for him either.

Hand in hand they walked up the stairs, giggling to themselves until they got to Emma's room. Pulling out a drawer in her dresser, Emma tugged her bathing suits out, one light blue and the other a bright yellow.

"Go with the blue one, honey." Clay could see the light blue material flush against her chest and her ass. "Definitely the blue one."

Kissing his cheek, Emma took the bathing suit and walked over to the bathroom that she and Mikey shared. Leaving the door slightly open, Emma shucked her pajama pants and got into the bottom, tying the strings loosely before peeling off her tank top. Just as she was tying the strap around her waist, Clay called out.

"Em?"

Sticking half her body out the door, making sure to keep everything important covered, Emma just raised an eyebrow at the basketball shorts he wore, he had clearly already gotten changed.

"Emma," Clay groaned. "You're driving me crazy here, honey."

Emma just giggled, not moving from the doorway.

"I'm gonna get the hot tub set up, come down when you're ready."

"Ok babe, give me two more minutes." Emma hurried through typing the straps of her bikini top and putting her hair up. Not bothering to put on a shirt, Emma walked out onto the patio before turning to the alcove that housed the hot tub. The walls surrounded three sides, leaving the only opening facing the house. There would be no one intruding without them knowing that they were coming.

Sitting in the warm water of the hot tub, Clay's mouth dropped open at the sight of Emma walking towards him. The bathing suit was sinfully small, the triangles of her top barely holding her breasts in place. Rubbing his hand over his beard, Clay wondered if he had made the right choice. Controlling himself wasn't going to be easy, especially if Emma was intent on pushing the envelope.

Emma stepped into the water and was unprepared for Clay pulling her close, hands splaying low on her abdomen and lower back as she straddled his waist.

"This what you wanted, Emma?" Clay husked out, toying with the strings tying her bathing suit bottom together.

Emma nodded, words not coming to her lips. Clay wasn't even doing anything and she felt overheated and overstimulated. Arching her back, Emma pushed down on Clay, noting the hardness in his shorts. Dragging her hands out of the water and up his stomach, Emma felt Clay's abs contract and she brought her hands up to his neck. Her hips were moving unconsciously, the thin material of their bathing suits not providing nearly enough friction for her.

Clay moved one wet hand up to cup her cheek, bringing his lips to hers. Mouths moving in sync, Clay pressed himself closer and closer to Emma's body. Kissing down the side of her neck, Clay sucked and bit into the space between her neck and shoulders, just under where the strap of her bathing suit crossed behind her neck. Clay carefully tugged the strap, and the triangles that held her breasts fell.

"Emma, you want more than this?" Clay growled, cupping her breasts in his hands, pinching her nipples between his forefinger and his thumb.

"Clay," Emma moaned, head falling backwards.

"What do you need, Em?" Emma was in the driver's seat. He wouldn't go further than she allowed, no matter how hard he was in his pants.

When he didn't get an answer, Clay pulled his hands away and stopped kissing her neck, Emma needed to answer him before he got too carried away.

"Clay, if you don't touch me, I'm gonna scream." Emma opened her eyes to focus on Clay's noting that his eyes were a deeper shade of blue.

"Where do you want me to touch you, Em, here?" Clay cupped her breasts again.

Emma shook her head and dragged his right hand below the swirling water of the hot tub until the palm of his hand was over her pussy.

"Emma, honey, we can't go much further than this," Clay whispered, as he dragged one finger over the center of the bathing suit bottom.

"I want you to," Emma forced her eyes open again. She didn't want to stop now.

"We're not having sex for the first time in a hot tub babe, no way." Clay was firm on that. His first time with her wasn't going to be a quickie in her backyard. It would be an evening where Clay got to worship her body and in a place where he didn't have to worry about how loud she would be, because all he wanted to hear was her screaming his name.

"Don't tease, Clay," Emma whimpered, shifting to try and get his fingers closer to where she wanted them. The shifting of her hips over his was slowly forcing Clay to lose his control over the situation.

"I won't honey, just give me a minute." Clay knew that the only way he was going to come out of this intact is if he took control for a little bit. Emma could force the envelope all she wanted, but if he held the reins… she would get off and no one would be the wiser.

Dragging his hands over her body, Clay couldn't help thrusting into her, feeling the warmth of her body surrounding him and the tight buds of her nipples press against his bare chest.

Emma strained her neck up to try and kiss him, the angle awkward and unyielding. Clay met her lips and brushed his tongue against hers, pulling her bottom lip into his mouth. Just when Emma was starting to drown in his kiss, Clay spread her legs, circled the tip of his finger over her clit, daring to pull at it gently through the thin fabric of his bathing suit.

"Em, that feel good?" Clay knew it did by the constant stream of moans that were falling out of her lips, he selfishly wanted to hear her say it out loud.

Nodding her head, Emma dragged his other hand from her hip down to the entrance of her pussy. She was oversensitized, delirious on the feeling that his fingers were creating. "I want you Clay."

"You got me babe, I'm right here." Inching his finger forward, Clay groaned when he felt the warm heat of her pussy. She clenched down on his finger and all Clay could think about was that warmth surrounding a different part of his body.

"Faster," Emma breathed out, she could feel herself climbing higher and higher, she just needed one final push to go over the edge.

"I love watching you like this Em, you're so beautiful. You're almost there, honey," Clay added a second finger and watched as Emma's mouth dropped open, stuttering moans filling the air.

"Clay, Clay, Clay," Emma cried, rocking her hips into his fingers. "More."

Clay thrust with his middle and index finger and used his thumb to gently brush against Emma's clit. Emma stiffened and nearly fell back into the water, hips thrusting wildly. Clay braced her back with a strong forearm, holding her in place while he dragged her over the edge.

Coming back down to Earth, Emma snuggled back into Clay's arms, noting the hardness that still poked at her stomach. Grinning, Emma wrapped her arms around his neck, using his strong shoulders to drag her hips against Clay's.

"Babe," Clay muttered into her lips. That day in his bedroom was something he thought of often, but pushing the boundaries that far again was dangerous. Especially tonight, his control was slipping faster than Sonny after too many shots of whiskey.

"You should get something, too," Emma said, in between rolls of her hips and soft kisses down his neck. Trailing a hand underneath the water, Emma stroked him through the fabric of his shorts, noting that there wasn't a second waistband, he had just worn his shorts into the hot tub.

"Em, if we go there…"

"You won't be able to control yourself, I know, Clay." Stroking gently, Emma bit on his earlobe, smirking when the grip he had on her hips tightened. "If I touch you, are you going to lose control?"

Clay thought about it, stilling her rocking hips. He definitely would lose his shit, already close to the edge. Nodding, Clay responded, "Yeah, Em." His hips started shifting uncomfortably. "But damn if I don't want you to put your hands on me."

"Then tell me when it's too much," Emma said, resuming the rocking of her hips. She wiggled her fingers underneath his shorts and grasped him firmly, remembering how he liked to be touched from the afternoon in his bedroom.

Tipping his head back, Clay let out a grunt, and moved his hands from Emma's waist up to her breasts, cupping them and rolling her nipples between his fingers, laughing when her hands broke rhythm for a moment.

"You're not playing fair," Emma gasped, closing her eyes against the sensation.

"Oh I won't play fair if you've got your hands on me Em, that's for damn sure."

Giving a twist of her wrist, Emma grinned triumphantly when a moan escaped his lips. When his hand reached down to cover hers, Emma let him set the pace. The faster and harder their hands moved together, the louder the moans became until one final drag of their hands over the tip of his cock.

Breathing heavily, Clay took one look at the girl on his lap. If they stayed in the hot tub, they were going to go further. "Emma, babe, we gotta get out."

Nodding, Emma grabbed the top floating in the water and stood, holding her hand out to Clay. She never wanted to make him uncomfortable. "Ok, let's go dry off."

Shutting the tub off and closing it back up, Emma and Clay jogged back into the laundry room, cold air freezing the water left on their skin. Wrapping themselves in the fluffy towels, Emma and Clay looked at each other before taking dry clothing that was still folded on the counter, waiting to be put away.

"I'm going to turn around and you're going to get dressed, ok Em?"

"Can we make hot chocolate after?"

Clay paused in putting on his sweats. Sometimes this girl was a vixen and then sometimes she morphed back into the eighteen year old teenager that he loved. One thing was for sure, he'd never get tired of trying to figure her out. "Yeah babe, we can make hot chocolate."

Clay felt her arms wrap around his waist, soft pajamas with reindeer covering her body.

"Thank you, Clay."

"Always babe, let's see if we can find a Christmas movie, everyone should be home soon."

Snuggling back on the couch with mugs of hot chocolate and cold pizza, Clay and Emma didn't even realize when Jason came home with Mikey until they settled on the other couch, each clad in matching pajamas. Sharing a glance with Jason, Clay couldn't help but picture many more nights like this, but with his own family. One day.


	8. Chapter 8

"I hate you Emma Kate! You're not mom, you can't tell me what to do!"

The door slammed in her face and Emma stood there in shock, willing her lungs to take a deep breath. The last week had been the hardest on Mikey as things were starting to get back into a routine, one without mom. They went to school every day, went to their extracurriculars, and then went home. Their entire lives had flipped on its head and no amount of cooking from Nana or Aunt Naima was going to magically make it better, it just wasn't. So Emma did her best to be the person that Mikey and her father needed her to be. She had to be that person, it was her job now.

"Mikey man, I'm sorry," Emma called through the thick wood of the door. Resting her forehead on door, Emma didn't expect a response, but the sound of quiet sniffling made her heart break. But she wasn't going to budge, no matter how much Mikey cried and groaned about it. When dad wasn't there, it was Emma's responsibility to make sure that he came home safe.

Sighing Emma, pushed herself back up, giving his door one last lingering glance before going back to her room, shutting the door lightly. Looking out the window, Emma didn't see the truck in the driveway and there were no new messages on her phone. Great. Emma felt tears prick at the corners of her eyes. Every day she was trying to so hard just to keep it together for Mikey, and she was failing miserably. Mikey was right, she wasn't mom. She couldn't do half of the things that Mikey needed from her and do all of the things that she needed for herself, it just wasn't possible. Taking another deep breath, Emma wiped the tears from her eyes. There's no time for tears when there's work to be done, Emma reminded herself, thinking of the many times mom had said that when they were close to giving up. Lying in bed, Emma closed her eyes, willing sleep to come quickly. She could almost smell the faint scent of her mother's perfume on her pillow and she smiled, she would see her mother in her dreams.

"Emma! Get up, it's time for school!"

Jolting awake, Emma sat up in her bed. She had just laid down, was it really time to get up again? Glancing at the clock on her nightstand, Emma stood up with a sigh and got ready. Morning's seemed to come faster now that she was the one doing the majority of the work around the house. Padding down the steps, Emma knocked on Mikey's door. "That's one, Mikey man," she said continuing towards the kitchen, scrolling through the notifications on her phone.

"Morning Em."

Stopping short, Emma looked up in surprise. "Mom?" She questioned.

"Yeah baby," Alana said absentmindedly, washing dishes in the skin, back turned towards Emma, still wearing her favorite red dress.

The same one that they had buried her in.

Emma rubbed her knuckles across her eyes, sure that she would disappear. When she didn't Emma took a seat at the kitchen table, just staring at her mother.

"Emma, do you want something to eat or are you good? I need to make lunches," Alana said twisting her neck to look at Emma.

"I'll take care of it mom, you can make lunch." Emma stood up and made her way to the refrigerator, pulling out a container of yogurt and apple, still glancing warily at her mother making sandwiches by the sink.

"Emma are you going to wake Mikey up for school? You don't want to be late. That would be the third time this week."

"Yeah, I will mom. It's been hard getting out the door this week, we're not normally late for school."

Emma took another bite of her apple as she began to walk towards the stairs before she heard her mother's comment, "That's because you don't know what you're doing."

Stopping short on the stairs, Emma shook her head. She didn't hear her right. There was no way her mother had said that, no way. Knocking again on Mikey's door she called out to him, "Mikey, this is two!" before walking back downstairs into the kitchen.

"Mom, how many sandwiches do you think Mikey and I eat?" There was a sandwich wrapped in aluminum foil next to a bottle of water, each day marked with an 'E'. Then there were three sandwiches all stacked up on each other.

"Today's Tuesday Em, Mikey has hockey practice tonight, he needs a snack too. You'd know that if you paid attention to him a little more."

"Mom?" Something was right. Going up behind her and spun her around. Instead of the warm smile and shining blue eyes, her face was ashen, eyes deadened, blood covering her face.

"You're failing Emma Kate. I thought that I raised you better. Your brother, your responsibility."

"I'm doing the best that I can mom, I'm, I'm trying to be there for Mikey and for dad and go to school. I'm sorry mama!"

"I'm disappointed in you Emma Kate, you're just not doing enough."

Emma stood in shock, watching her mother ignore the tears pouring down her face and walk out the front door. "Mama! Don't go!" She sniffled, trying her best to stop crying. "I miss you, please stay!"

The door slammed behind her, and Emma was left standing in the kitchen, alone again.

Then she opened her eyes, biting back a scream. Instead of her kitchen, Emma was sitting straight up in her bed. Her mother was still dead. She was still alone. She was still a failure. Blindly reaching over to her cell phone, Emma called Clay. She needed to hear his voice.

Clay was comfortable in his bed, snuggled warm under the covers. Rolling over in his bed, Clay smiled in his sleep, thinking of the gentle smile that graced Emma's face. It had been a rough few days for Emma to adjust to her new reality without Alana and it was taking a toll on her body and her spirit, but walking through the door, he could feel the tension slip right off her shoulders as she smiled at him.

The vision of Emma was broken by the sounding of buzzing. The sound didn't register at first, until the second ring broke through the fog of sleep. Shit, he was getting spun up. Fuck. He had planned to go over to Emma's house in the morning. Reaching for his phone off the nightstand, Clay put it to his ear, not bothering to open his eyes to see who was calling. "H'llo?"

The sound of sobbing snapped Clay's eyes open. Sitting up, heart racing in his chest, Clay pulled the phone away from his ear and looked at the caller ID, Emmie K with a purple heart.

"Emmie K? Em? What's going on?"

There was no response, only sobs. Feeling his stomach clench, Clay gripped his cellphone.

"Emma, Emma honey, what's going on? Tell me please," Clay begged. His own chest hurting from the sobs that she was trying to stifle in her chest. Whimpers and short gasps of air turned into fast pants.

"Clay," Emma whimpered. "I, I can't… Clay."

"You can Em, I promise, you can. Breathe for me honey." Clay breathed in deeply, more to settle his own nerves than to calm Emma, but when she started to try and mimic him, he kept going until she was sniffling, throat still clogged.

"Tell me what's going on Emmie K," Clay prodded again, hoping that she was calm enough to answer him coherently.

"I, uh," the line shuffled, Emma sniffling again. "It's dad, and I, I can't do it.. I'm not good at this, and mom, mom…" The tears started again in earnest and Clay was grasping at straws.

"Em, is it Jason? Did something happen?"

Clay never got an answer, the phone clicked and all he heard was a dial tone. Throwing the covers off his bed, Clay put on sweats and a shirt, hastily tying on his sneakers. Grabbing his wallet and keys, he jogged over to his truck, cursing at the cold air. Clay replayed the last conversation that he had with Emma that afternoon over and over in his mind. Nothing she said earlier made him worried. Yeah she was sad and missing her mom and trying to keep Mikey from going off the rails, but to make her hysterical? Something had to have happened.

He pushed the truck a little faster, cursing the fact that it was easily a half hour from his apartment to Emma's house. Twenty if he pushed it. Picking up his cell, Clay attempted to call Emma again, praying that she would still be awake. Praying that she didn't just lose her only other phone rang once before Emma picked up again.

"Clay," She whispered, voice rough and nasally.

"Emma, I'm on my way ok, but I need to know, are you hurt?" Clay waited, ready to make a pit stop at Trent's before going to the Hayes' house, please don't be hurt.

"No."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not really, I just, I don't know Clay." The tears started again and Clay mentally smacked himself, he was trying to avoid making her more upset but kept sticking his foot in it.

"That's ok honey, just breathe in with me like we did before, I'm almost there." Clay took a deep breath and pressed his foot on the gas pedal a little harder. Five more minutes, he was almost there. Screeching his car to a stop, Clay barely turned off the ignition before he was jogging up the driveway, the only light that was on in the house was a small lamp in Emma's window, Clay could just make out the shadow of a person on the bed. Banging on the front door, Clay wondered if there was a spare key somewhere. Or maybe there was a window open. Or Emma would come get the door. He wasn't prepared for Jason to swing the door open, right arm still raised to bang on the door.

Jason came home to a quiet house, lights turned off and the door locked tight. Mikey and Emma were hopefully asleep, sweet dreams filling their minds. He never wanted them to see the darkness that had taken root in his mind or the horrors of the world that they saw. A thump sounded from above his head. Emma's room. He hoped that she wasn't sneaking out, he could only deal with one child in crisis at a time. He also didn't have it in himself to go up and check, he knew that there wasn't anyone else in the house beside him and the kids. And if Emma was out doing God knows what, Mikey was at least sleeping peacefully in his bed, that he could be certain of.

Mikey. His sweet Mikey man was having such a rough time adjusting. Saying things he didn't mean and acting in ways that would have broke Alana. Mikey was always 'her' kid, just like Emma was his, losing his person was devastating in a way that a thirteen year old boy had a hard time conceptualizing that she was gone and that Emma was in charge, his eighteen year old sibling was now his pseudo mother, just so that he could go and operate. As if that wasn't a kick in the balls. His eighteen year old kid had to take care of the house and his other kid so he could go play man of the people. But then again, it brought Emma to Clay.

And that brought him right back to Emma. His two children were so intertwined with one another at this point that there really wasn't a way to think of one without the other. Where Mikey needed support, he found it in Emma. But who did Emma have when she needed someone? Alana was always better at the touchy-feely stuff that he hated. Hell, at this point, even the kid would be better than him. The kid was definitely a better choice. He could see it, Ray could see it, hell the whole universe could see that his daughter needed Clay Spenser in her life, but to have it be reciprocated was a different story. And something he didn't truly want to examine right at this moment in time.

Tipping his head back, Jason closed his eyes. That was a problem for a different day. Just as he was about to fall asleep, someone started banging on the door. Jason stayed put. Maybe if I don't move, they'll go away, he thought to himself. The banging stopped and Jason sighed, he was right. Not a minute later, the banging started again. Stumbling to the door, Jason ripped open the door. Who the hell was knocking like that at two in the morning?

"Kid?" Jason blinked. Rubbed his hands over his eyes.

"Jay, where's Em?" Clay forced himself through the doorway, scanning Jason for anything that might indicate what Emma was freaked out over. He looked healthy, if a little tired. What else could have made Emma this frantic? Jason and Mikey were both ok, the real question here was if she was in the right frame of mind.

"Probably sleeping. Kid, what's going on?" Jason didn't like the look in his eyes, didn't like the tension that was held in his jaw. Something happened. "Clay, look at me, what happened?"

"Jason, I just need to see Emma, is she ok?"

"Clay, it's two in the morning, you can't just bang down my door and ask to see Emma, that's not how this is going to work here." Jason tried to be as calm as possible. This 'thing' between Clay and Emma was confusing the living shit out of him. There needed to be boundaries. He didn't know how to deal with all of this if the lines blurred anymore than the already were. There was the texting and the facetiming and the inside jokes and the hugging.

A thought popped into Jason's head as he watched Clay pace back and forth in his entryway. Maybe Ash had decided to rear his ugly head again. He vividly remembered the one facetime he saw between the two of them where Clay cried, all because of the asshole who shared his DNA. He refused to call him his father and questioned if there was even a piece of Ash Spenser left that was half-way decent. He didn't know how Adam could stand operating under that piece of shit for as long as he did. Then again he wasn't sure how Adam Seaver did a lot of things.

Clay raised his voice, panic clawing at his throat. He wasn't understanding, Emma need him and she needed him right the fuck now. "Jason, I know it's late and I know this can't happen. But where is Emma? It's important!"

Jason didn't get the chance to respond, Emma appeared at the top of the stairs, paused for a moment. Then she hurtled down, flying into Clay.

"Em?" Clay said, wrapping his arms around her waist. He could feel the warmth of her tears, the shaking of her shoulders. "I'm right here, Em. It's ok," Clay attempted to soothe her, not wanting to start another round of hyperventilating. He rubbed her lower back in small circles and deepened his breath, hoping that Emma would catch on.

"Kid?"

Clay's head lifted off of Emma's. Shaking his head, Clay raised an eyebrow at Jason. He didn't know anything, and from the look on Jason's face, he didn't know anything either.

Emma, Clay, and Jason stood by the front door for what seemed like an hour until Emma's sobs slowed enough that she could lift her head, meeting Clay's concerned eyes. "Clay, I, I can't…" The tears began again and Emma buried her face again, not wanting to explain anything.

Clay looked over at Jason, who nodded before going over to the armchair, hoping to give them a moment of privacy. Not that he wanted to. But he wasn't necessary here, Clay was.

Slipping a finger under her chin, Clay tilted her face so that he could look at her eyes, bloodshot and puffy. "Emmie K, I don't know what's going on here, give me a SitRep?" Clay hoped that the words would break through the tears. He didn't know what else to do, there was no training manual for when your almost-girlfriend-loses-her-mother.

"I had a nightmare," Emma said, voice small. Saying it out loud sounded stupid, childish. Here she was an eighteen year old woman crying over a stupid nightmare.

Relaxing a little bit, Clay hugged her close. He knew first hand that the nightmares could be worse than the actual event. The subconscious liked to use whatever it had in the arsenal, whether or not it was relevant or not. Ash made a frequent appearance in his dreams of Emma that turned into nightmares. "About what honey?"

"Mom," Emma said into the fabric of his t shirt. "She told me that I wasn't enough, and Mikey's mad at me because I won't let him go to a hockey party that the seniors are throwing because he's not old enough and I'm failing at balancing everything and if mom were here, she would be so mad because I'm not being the adult that Mikey needs." Emma voice got higher and higher as she ranted, fresh tears appearing on her cheeks.

"Emma." Clay's heart was breaking in his chest. It hadn't even been two weeks since they lost Alana and here she was trying to be the mom that Mikey deserved, while she was still a kid herself.

"I know, it's dumb and I'm acting like a kid and it's stupid…" Emma trailed off, trying to push herself out of Clay's arms. "I'm sorry I woke you up."

"I would rather you wake me up than sit and be upset over something Em, always." Clay held her in his arms, letting her cry. The sobs turned into tears that turned into sniffles until Emma lifted her head. Clay met her gaze, eyes trained on her beautiful face. Neither spoke. Emma bit her bottom lip and moved her hands up from Clay's waist to rest on his shoulders. Clay's hands tightened, feeling the muscles of her stomach contract as his thumbs brushed against her pajama top.

Emma tilted her chin, leaning closer against Clay's body, focusing her eyes on his lips.

Then she yawned, and Clay remembered that it was after two in the morning. Emma had school the next morning. Emma was upset, not the time to be thinking of kissing her, no matter how much he wanted to.

"Em, it's late. Let's get some rest, I'll stay until you fall asleep," Clay cajoled. He knew that Emma wouldn't want to go to sleep, she never did after a nightmare. Good thing they weren't in the same time zone very often, facetimes after nightmares were a common occurrence. For both of them.

"Promise?" Emma looked so small, nothing like the whirlwind of energy that he had met at her eighteenth birthday.

"Yeah, let's snuggle up Em." Clay grabbed her hand and led her to the couch. Sitting down he let Emma get comfortable, half lying on him and half on the couch. Clay could feel Jason's glare, but he didn't have the time to deal with his boss. Right now he wasn't Bravo Six, he was Clay Spenser and Emma needed him.

"I'm right here Em, you're safe," Clay whispered, rubbing his hand down her back. Tears trailed down her face and Clay couldn't do anything but hold her close. He hated not being able to fix the problem, but he couldn't bring her mother back to life. "You're enough, I'm not leaving you. I got you Em, I promise."

Eventually the tears and sobs slowed, Emma's thin body relaxed and her breathing evened out. Chancing a glance, Clay sighed in relief. Emma had finally fallen asleep.

"Hey, kid, I'm glad she called. She needs someone," Jason said, scratching the back of his head absentmindedly, repeating the words that Alana had said to him so many weeks before. Looking at the two of them, he knew that Alana was right, and would probably have been gloating in his face at the sight of the two of them together. She always saw more than the average person.

"I'm always gonna be here, boss. She knows that," Clay said, shifting the sleeping girl on his shoulder, tear tracks still drying on her face. He couldn't imagine a life where Emma wasn't with him, it just wasn't a future that he was willing to consider. It wouldn't happen.

The boys didn't speak any more that night, Clay kept a silent vigil over Emma's sleeping body, ready to defend against any nightmares that came her way. Eventually he heard the quiet and familiar snores of Jason. When the sun started to filter through the windows, Clay eased himself out from under Emma, wrapping the blanket around her shoulders and looked over at Jason, blinking in the early morning light to the alarm set on his watch. Brushing a kiss across her temple, Clay sat for a moment to watch Emma sleep. She really was more than any of them deserved, and one day he wouldn't have to hide his feelings from anyone, although he was certain that just about everyone knew by now. The real question was if Emma knew, though he wasn't exactly being subtle about his feelings anymore.

Clay gave one last glance at Emma and Jason sleeping in the living room before walking out the door, locking it behind him. He would see Jason on base, and hopefully, he would get to see Emma again that night. He loved being an operator more than life, but there were times when he wished that he could slow down, rest, and stay in one place with the girl he loved. He dreamt of the day when he would retire and have lots of children, be a better father than Ash ever was, and Emma. Emma would be the best mom. But until that day, there was work to be done on base, duty called and it didn't like to be kept waiting.


	9. Chapter 9

Emma felt trickles of sunlight coming through her open blinds on her face early on a Saturday morning. Rolling over, Emma winced as she put pressure on her aching ribs. Well, really her entire body was a walking bruise. Any movement was painful, but snuggling into the warmth of her bed, Emma forgot about the pain for a moment. The blankets were warm and her pillows were just the right softness to cradle her head and not put pressure on the bruises that littered her neck. No matter what position she was in, something was aching, so to find a moment where nothing hurt was magical. Normally, no matter which way she turned or moved, she was in pain, whether it was her shoulders or her chest or her back. She hurt. Not that she would ever tell, the boys were already broken up about the accident. There was no need to add to that stress.

Closing her eyes, Emma tried to fall back asleep and existed in the land between awake and asleep hazily until a loud bang sounded from downstairs. Eyes popping open, Emma looked at the calendar hung above her desk. Rubbing her eyes, she unlocked phone. Shit. Sighing to herself, Emma heaved herself out of bed. The Veterans Walk was today, and from the sounds of it, everyone was waiting on her. Stumbling over to the bathroom, Emma turned on the shower. It wouldn't do well to Hopefully the steam would help. That and a very large cup of coffee.

Downstairs, Jason was glaring at Brock and Sonny. The two fools had dropped the largest pot that he had in the entire kitchen and created a bang that he was sure startled someone all the way in Jbad. Clay snorted into his cup of coffee, for once he wasn't the one fucking shit up, he just hoped that they didn't wake up Emma before she needed to be awake. Sleep was something that each of them prized over just about anything, but Emma was a bear when she didn't get enough sleep.

"If you just woke Emma up, you're going to be running hills tomorrow," Jason threatened mildly over his own cup of coffee. He knew that Emma was up already, she could never sleep in for very long.

"I'll make it up to ya with some flapjacks, Sunshine ain't gonna mind if there's food in front of her," Sonny said resolutely. Emma was like him in that respect. If you woke them up, you better have food in front of their faces when you did. Or at the very least a cup of coffee.

All six heads looked up when they heard the shower turn on, a full hour before they were even supposed to leave the house. At least they didn't have to worry about waking Mikey, he had stayed over the Porter's to avoid going to the fundraiser. Not that the kid would wake up for anything short of a nuclear bomb. He was so much like Alana in that respect.

Glancing over at Sonny, Jason watched as he dropped several blueberries into a batch of pancakes. The man really did know Emma almost as well as Clay did, he just didn't like to make it obvious. The prickly man just didn't like to let anyone else know that he had a heart buried underneath the glitter from his latest lady friend.

"Trent, any chance you can give Em a check up while you're here?" Jason said, looking over at Trent setting the table.

"Yeah, I have my kit. You think she'll actually let me?"

"Oh not a chance," Clay said snorting. Emma would have to be coaxed and prodded in order to cooperate. "She's starting to feel better, you're gonna have a hard time getting her to sit still."

"She will if she wants to do anything but sit in a chair today," Jason muttered as he heard footsteps on the stairs. Trent chuckled quietly while setting up his kit, this wasn't going to go well and Jason was fooling himself if he thought that Emma would listen without argument. It would be interesting to see who would come out on top, his bet was on Emma.

Running down the stairs, Emma sniffed appreciatively. Someone was making pancakes, her bet was on Sonny. Walking into the kitchen, Emma chuckled, holding her ribs tightly. Sonny wearing her mother's apron flipping pancakes, looking like the picture of domestic bliss combined with Brock and Ray trying to corral Cerberus away from the platters full of bacon made for a wholesome sight. Of course, Clay was still trying to wake up with her dad, the two were like old women, gossiping over their mugs of coffee. Neither one wanting to admit that they needed more time in the morning than the rest of their brothers. Emma kissed Clay's cheek, wrinkling her nose at the feeling of stubble on his cheek. She much preferred him clean shaven.

"Morning," Emma said, grabbing her own mug of coffee, kissing each of her uncles before sitting next to Clay at the table, noticing the med kit laid out next to Trent. Raising an eyebrow at Trent, Emma decided not to say anything. Maybe she would get through this day without an exam from Trent. It wasn't likely.

Taking the plate of pancakes from Sonny, Emma glanced up. No one was speaking, they were all watching her eat. "Guys, this is creepy."

"Whatcha talking about Sunshine, we're not doing anything," Sonny said, refilling his coffee cup with his third cup for the morning.

"Yeah that's the point. Eat, talk, do something. I'm not going to break just from eating some pancakes."

"Em, we know you're not going to break, we're still just concerned," Ray soothed, ever the peacemaker. "Today's the first day you've been up and around."

The last week had been brutal. Every which way Emma moved, something hurt. Even sleeping was painful and it wasn't like she could take anything to help her sleep. Those were long days where she wished that Clay could hold her hand all day long. Turns out being banged around in a car is more painful than she thought.

"Trent's going to look you over before we leave today Em," Jason said resolutely, draining his glass. "No discussion."

"I'm fine Dad, Trent doesn't have to keep checking me over. They released me from the hospital and when I went back to the doctor on base, they said I was fine."

Jason wasn't going to budge. "Em you want to go to this thing, you let Trent give you a once over."

Emma sighed, she had a feeling that this would happen. Trent had been over every day this week just to 'look her over'. She hadn't changed at all in the last eight days since the accident. In fact, she was getting better. She could see out of her right eye now that the swelling had gone down. Finishing the last bite of her pancakes, Emma glanced over at Clay hoping for his support. He resolutely avoided looking at her eyes, but the stress lining his face made her pause. If it gave him some peace of mind, she would let Trent examine her for the ninth time. But that didn't mean that she had to be happy about it. "Fine, but no way is he examining me in front of everyone, the minute I wince you're gonna be all over me like a bunch of mother hens." Stalking off the living room, Emma sat down on the couch and waited for Trent, wincing at the pressure she placed on her ribs.

"Alright Em, you know the drill. Lift your shirt for me," Trent said, pulling on a pair of gloves. Trent tried to keep his face impassive as he looked at the multicolored bruising that littered Emma's chest and abdomen. Thankfully, they were beginning to fade, but he was sure that they didn't feel very good, especially her ribs.

Pressing his hand on Emma's right side, he watched Emma's face, cringing when she winced. "That still hurts?"

"No, just sore." Emma said, clenching her fist, inhaling deeply through her nose.

"I'm pretty sure you mean painful, Em," Trent said as he moved back to his bag to grab his stethoscope. He had a running bet with Brock on which Hayes was going to be the most stubborn with their injuries, right now it looked like Emma was far surpassing Jason. Listening to her lungs, Trent frowned. She was still wheezing badly, lungs sounding like a broken kazoo. Turning away from Emma, Trent tried to think of a way that he could tell Emma that she couldn't go and stay outside all day for the walk. Being outside all day wouldn't feel great on her ribs, but the bigger problem was that it would put her at risk for getting sick. Her lungs wouldn't take kindly to an infection at this point.

"Uncle Trent, you have to let me go. Clay needs me there," Emma said earnestly. She knew that he was leaning towards making her stay home. She could see it on her face. "You know that he's having a hard time since Brian and Adam died, they're honoring both of them today."

Trent was quiet. Emma had a good point. He had noticed that Clay was quieter than normal this morning, not talking to anyone aside from Jason while they ate breakfast. He would lean on Emma today more than his brothers and that was a credit to the relationship that they had formed. There were days that he felt that Emma knew Clay better than even Sonny did; his moods, reactions, thoughts. "Ok, then you have to listen to every instruction, every limitation that I give you. Any arguments and I'm making Sonny take you home."

"That's fine Uncle Trent, I'll behave," Emma swore, happy that he was seeing her point. She would promise to do anything if it meant that Trent would let her go to the walk with Clay. Taking a deep breath, pausing to hold her ribs, Emma pushed herself off of the couch and plastered a winning smile on her face when she went to face the boys in the kitchen. "I'm fine, I told you. You guys were all being over dramatic. Are we ready to go?"

Trent nodded at Jason behind her back, he would be keeping a close eye on her for Jason, and the boys packed up their stuff, heading out to the cars. Clay grabbed Emma's hand, pulling her over to this truck. The two very rarely got to spend time together, and while the drive to the fundraiser was short, it would give the two of them some time to just talk to one another. Often times their conversations while he was on an OP or deployed, they talked about how he was doing or if everyone was coming back safe. They very rarely talked about how she was doing or if she was struggling with anything. Clay wanted to change that. Pulling away from the house, Clay grabbed Emma's hand in his, lacing his fingers between hers. She could pretend all she wanted that she wasn't in pain, but Clay had been in enough accidents to know that she was feeling every bump that the truck went over. She was doing well with it, as much as she could be given the fact that she wasn't taking any medication, even his precious advil.

"Emmie K, how are you doing?" Clay was fishing, hoping that Emma would give him something aside from the generic 'I'm fine'. He knew that she was stressed over something, a by product of spending so much time video chatting. Every expression that crossed her face was one that he recognized. "Don't say you're fine if you're not, Em."

"I'm not fine," Emma sighed. In the safety of his truck, Emma let her head rest against the window. The last week hadn't been easy, and without the support from her family, she didn't know if she would have made it through everything without a breakdown or two along the way.

Clay stayed quiet. When Emma was stressed, she needed to get all of her emotions out, a trick he learned when he would interrupt her early on in their relationship. Sometimes it just took her longer to process things than others.

When Emma didn't offer anything further, Clay waited until they were at a red light before turning to her, grabbing her left hand in his. "Wanna talk about it?"

"I'm just getting anxious the longer it takes for me to hear back from school. I did everything that I'm supposed to do, I paid the deposit, and the lab fee, and did the pretests and still haven't heard back yet." Emma paused, taking in as deep of a breath as she could. "It shouldn't be taking this long."

"They gave you a time frame for when you would find out right?" Clay didn't really know how this was supposed to work. The Navy tended to take anyone who signed up and could do the job, after making it through boot camp. Apparently universities liked to play the long game.

"This is the last week for acceptances and every time the phone rings my heart sinks because I think that they're going to be calling to reject me from the program. I thought waiting for a phone call was bad before when you were all gone on OPs but it's even worse when you're waiting for something to happen that decides your future." Emma ran her fingers through her hair, frowning when they got tangled in the snarls that had formed. She was trying to put on a brave face, but this option was the option. There wasn't a back up plan.

"Em, I'm sure that you're gonna get the call. You had recommendations from a petty officer first class and the charge nurse at the largest trauma hospital in the city. You do well in school, you rocked the interview. They would be crazy not to take you in the program babe," Clay pulled the car into the closest parking space he could. Noting the tension in Emma's shoulders, Clay waited for her to get herself out of the car before coming round the truck. Wrapping his arms around her waist, Clay pulled her close, breathing in the sweet scent of her hair, not noticing the boys watching them from the car.

Emma let a few tears fall, feeling safe in Clay's arms. She didn't always like to bother Clay with the small stuff, and she liked to talk to her dad about even less, but these were the moments where she was glad for the overwhelming support that he gave her. Swiping underneath her eyes, Emma grabbed his hand and started to walk towards the tents set up around the track. Everything would be alright with Clay by her side.

Jason sighed, glancing at Trent. "You sure she's fine?" Emma didn't cry randomly, and while they had all taken steps to reduce the stress she was under, maybe the accident tipped it over the edge.

"Jay, I don't think any of us can really say with certainty if she's fine or not. Physically? I can keep her resting and make sure she's comfortable, but emotionally? That's on Clay. She's not going to tell us when she can lean on him. And she should be leaning on him, kid leans on her too."

"That why you let her come today?" Ray piped up from the backseat. He was unsure of whether Emma would be able to handle walking around for hours at a time, but kept his mouth shut once Trent made his decision. His brother would never put anyone in danger unnecessarily.

"She made good points. He's going to need all of us today."

The boys watched Emma and Clay walk hand in hand towards their tent, before Jason spoke. "Ok, Sonny, Brock you're on Clay duty, Trent and Ray, Emma. I want both of them healthy today. If we gotta pack up early, we pack up early."

The boys got all their gear together, following the same path as Clay and Emma. Stopping short, Trent held in a giggle. Davis had really gone all out with his instructions. Set up in the middle of the tent was a camping chair, complete with a footrest and small table next to a cot. Stacked on the table was a fluffy blanket and a pillow, ready for Emma. Walking underneath the tent, the boys caught the tail end of the conversation between Emma and Lisa.

"... Aunt Lisa this is too much!"

Trent just raised an eyebrow at Emma. She promised to not make a fuss.

Snapping her mouth shut, Emma accepted the mug of hot cider from Lisa and sat down on the chair, pulling the blanket over her lap. Chuckling, Trent went over and poured himself his own glass of cider, shaking out a couple of advil from the travel med kit that Lisa carried with their stuff. Handing them over to Emma, he watched as she swallowed them, rubbing her temples.

"Alright boys, we gotta go line up for the calling of the names," Blackburn stood up from his own camping chair. Emma watched Clay slam down his mask, eyes hardening, jaw clenching. Emma struggled to get out of her chair, intent on walking up with the boys. Contracting her abs, Emma hissed dropping the mug to hold her ribs.

"Stay put Em," Trent chastised. He waited for Emma to breathe through the pain. "You can't get up that quick, we'll be fine. Promise."

Emma looked over at Clay, scanning his face. Any sign that he would need her with him, she was going to get up even if she had to have Sonny haul her out of the damn chair. Clay met her eyes, he needed her with him, but he also needed her to stay safe. Sighing, Emma gave in, she would be in the way if the boys had to worry about her instead of remembering their fallen brothers.

"Ok, I'll be here." Emma watched her dad throw his arm over Clay's shoulders, guiding him out to the middle of the field. Catching Sonny's hand, Emma waited until he looked down at her. "Take care of him Uncle Sonny, don't let him out of your sight."

"I won't Sunshine, I'll be on him tighter than my jeans. Don't worry your pretty lil' face, I'll return him safe to ya." Sonny ruffled her hair, trying to get the girl to smile. The shadows were creeping back under her eyes, mixing with the bruising that seemed like it would never go away. "He's gonna be fine, we're with him. I promise."

Emma nodded and watched as Sonny jogged to catch up with the boys. She would give anything to be able to stand with Clay and honor the men that shaped him into the warrior that he is today. Feeling a pang of gratitude for her family, Emma didn't know what she would do without them. Hopefully she would never find out. Listening to the reverberations of the microphone, Emma let her eyes close. Just as she was dozing, her phone rang.

Heart leaping in her chest, she gave a shaky nod to Davis before walking back towards the cars, hoping for a little peace and quiet to answer her phone. Privacy would also be useful, she didn't want to get anyone's hopes up. She didn't know if she could face the disappointment if she didn't get it.

"Hello?" Emma tried to keep her voice from shaking, and failed.

"Good morning, is this Emma Hayes?"

"Yes, who may I ask is calling?"Heart racing, Emma crossed her fingers.

"My name is Susan, I'm the program director from Old Dominion University College of Nursing. I was just calling because I would like to offer you a seat in our accelerated nursing program for the upcoming fall term. You'll be receiving a letter in the next week with all of the information regarding the program, but I wanted to call you and offer my sincerest congratulations."

Emma paused, not quite believing that it was real. Shaking herself out of her stupor, Emma replied, tears stuck in her throat. "Thank you so much, I, just, thank you!"

Not paying a lick of attention to the rest of the conversation, Emma floated on cloud nine. She had gotten in. She did it. Hanging up the phone, Emma grinned from ear to ear, not even caring that it hurt her cheeks.

Not paying attention to her surroundings, Emma started back for the tent with Aunt Lisa. The boys would throw a fit if they found out that she left without telling them, despite the fact that Aunt Lisa knew where she was going. She was almost to the tent, could see ridiculous chair that was set up for her when she felt a hand wrap around her wrist, jerking her backwards.

Crying in pain, Emma turned to look at the asshole who grabbed at her. Ash Spenser.

"What do you want," Emma spat. She had no sympathy in her heart for Ash Spenser, not after how he treated his son. Or how he treated anyone to be honest.

"You're the sweet thing my son's dating?" Ash dragged his eyes up and down her body, noting the colorful bruising on her face and arms. "What's your name sweetheart?"

"Yes, I'm dating your son. You'd know my name if you actually cared about him." Emma struggled to get her wrist away from Ash, not liking his hands on her body. She didn't like him being anywhere near her family, but she couldn't exactly change that.

"See that's where I need your help princess, I want you to get Clay to open up to me. I'm his father after all, he's my son," Ash spread his hands wide out in at attempt to look innocent. It didn't work. The slimy bastard couldn't hide his true self from Emma.

"You're not getting anywhere near him, certainly if I can help it. You don't deserve to be in the same room as him, you don't even deserve to have him speak to you after what you did to him." She felt the rage boil up within herself. The nerve of this bastard. He thought that he could just waltz back into Clay's life whenever he damn well pleased. It wasn't going to happen.

"Oh I will, either with or without your help." A slick grin slid over his face. He would get what he wanted from the whiny brat he called a son.

"Good, you do that." Emma turned on her heel, not giving him a second glance. The second time she felt his hand, it wasn't on her wrist, but on her shoulder. A large hand gripped her left shoulder tightly, biting into the bruise that was left behind by her seatbelt. Staggering under the weight of his hand, Emma closed her eyes, willing herself not to pass out from the pain blooming underneath her shoulder blade. Closing her eyes, Emma tried to get the strength to call out for help, to scream, to do something. She never got the chance.

After the reading of the names, the boys made their way back to the tent, jostling each other while they made bets on who would do the most laps round the track. Personally Sonny didn't care, he was just hoping that Davis had something besides cider waiting for them. Personally, Sonny was hoping for something that they could add to the cider, but he wasn't picky. He was also hoping that Sunshine had closed her eyes for a bit, it would be a long day. Better to get that nap in sooner rather than later. Except her chair was empty, and Davis was nowhere to be seen.

"Where'd she go?"

The boys fell quiet behind him.

"What do you mean, she's not under the tent?" Clay pushed ahead, Emma wasn't really steady enough on her feet to be moving around without anyone with her.

"No, and neither is Davis."

"Neither is Davis what?" Lisa said, coming up next to Sonny with a clipboard. The men had neglected to sign the waivers that allowed them to participate.

Clay bit out, "You left Emma alone?"

"No," Lisa said, straightening her spine. "Emma walked off to answer a phone call, I left to get the forms so the brass doesn't have a heart attack. I was gone maybe five minutes, she's a grown woman Clay."

"Ok, ok, ok. She couldn't have gone far." Ray soothed. It wasn't important that Davis stepped out for a moment or that Emma needed to answer a phone call. They just hand to find her.

The boys formed a circle, each scanning the small field. It wouldn't be too hard to find her, not many young adults were present and even fewer were young blondes.

"Found her," Brock said, clenching his jaw this wasn't going to be good.

Clay spun around to follow Brock's line of vision.

He saw Emma, kneeling on the ground.

He saw Ash, hand tight around her arm.

Then he saw red.


	10. Chapter 10

Clay didn't stop, he didn't think, didn't wait, didn't even pause to see if his brothers were behind him. He ran. "Get the fuck away from her!" Getting himself in between Emma and Ash, Clay stood there, chest held high. He could feel Emma trying to get up behind him, but he knew that his brothers were on their way, he was more concerned with his father.

"Hey now, there's no need for all this nonsense, I was just trying to talk to your girlfriend, try to get to know her better."

"And somehow that involved my daughter on the ground with your hands on her?" Jason had arrived, arms crossed fully across his chest. Standing shoulder to shoulder with Clay, they formed a solid wall of muscle to shield Emma

"She tripped, I was trying to help her up, you boys just caught the tail end of it,"

"Is that what you used to say when mom had black eyes?" Clay bit out, not wanting him to get away with any of his ridiculous lies.

"Son, don't talk about things that you don't understand," Ash warned, stepping closer to Clay until they were almost nose to nose.

"Oh I think I understand just fine, Ash. I'm only going to tell you this once, don't you dare touch her again." Clay felt Emma's hand on his shoulder, but couldn't look away from Ash, the same blue eyes that looked back at him in the mirror were staring back at him. He wouldn't be the one to break the stare first.

"Clay, I'm fine, he didn't hurt me. Let's walk away." Emma was being supported by Ray and Sonny under each shoulder, but she wasn't going to let them take her back to Davis without Clay. And she wasn't going to leave him alone with the abusive asshole he called a father, even if her own father was with him. It wasn't happening.

Clay didn't respond right away, just kept staring. Other people were beginning to take notice, and when Jason saw Blackburn approaching, he nudged Clay, they needed to get out. Clay grit his teeth, and turned about face to look at Emma. Nudging Sonny out of the way, he supported Emma on his shoulder, wrapping a strong arm around her waist. He was just about to walk away when Ash had to open his big mouth.

"At the very least, she didn't beg like you used to,"

Clay paused, visibly trembling as he took a deep breath. Emma curled into him, hugging his body as best she could until he calmed. The asshole didn't deserve for that comment to be acknowledged.

Emma and Clay hobbled back to the tent, not waiting for the rest of Bravo to make their way back with them. Emma was just hoping that they would behave without her there to corral the troops. The last thing they needed was an incident with an NPG at a fundraiser, that would go over so well with the press.

Sonny and Jason stood in front of Ash, jaws clenched tightly. Clay had never said anything, but there were things that you picked up on, things that painted a very different life than his children had when they were growing up.

"Stay away from my children, Ash. I won't tell you again," Jason warned, voice deadly quiet. He knew that there were people all around him, watching his every move to see what would happen between the original Team guy and Bravo One.

"You know, Jason. If I were you, I would be keeping my daughter far away from Clay. He's too much like me for his own damn good, you never know when he's going to snap…"

"Now I know you didn't just insinuate that my brother is anything like you," Sonny drawled. He had done a remarkable job of keeping his opinions to himself, but there was always a breaking point. "Because, Jason and I? We trained that shit out of him the first week he was with us. Wasn't hard, you weren't around enough to properly infect him."

"Of course he's like me, all Spenser men are the same after all. I'm just saying, Jason. Clay just might slip one day. I know I did. Kid just didn't get out of the way in time."

Jason put his hand on Sonny's shoulder. He could hear his teeth grinding over one another and there was no need to make a scene. Ash was just looking to rile them up, they didn't even know if it was true. They could make assumptions all they want, but until they heard it from Clay's mouth… they could deny it in their minds. And no one wanted to think about those assumptions.

"Son, let's go."

Turning around, Jason and Sonny stalked off, leaving Ash standing alone.

"I can't believe you didn't let me deck the rat bastard, he deserved it," Sonny grumbled, hands itching to start a fight. He longed to smack the smirk right off his smug face.

"Because if you decked him there wouldn't be anything left for the rest of us. He'll get his due one day Son, this just isn't the place to bring a man to his knees. Adam deserves better."

"Pretty sure Adam woulda helped us, the man didn't like Ash any more than we do. One good hit would honor his memory more than any stupid plaque every would," Sonny grumbled.

"Sonny." Jason wanted to end this conversation before they got back to the tent, Emma didn't need to know everything. She already knew too much for Jason's comfort level.

Snapping his jaw shut, Sonny got the message loud and clear. Don't mention anything in front of Emma. Speaking of Emma, why on Earth was she kneeling and why was Clay in her camping chair?

Jogging the rest of short distance, Jason stopped short. Clay was sitting hunched over, breath coming rapidly, hands clenching the material of the camping chair tightly, knuckles white. The rest of his brothers were standing around him, varying degrees of panic across their faces. Davis had dropped the curtains that attached to the top of the tent to try and provide a little privacy, but it wouldn't do much. She wished that she could do something, but nothing that she said would break through the fog that Clay was in, that had to come from Emma.

"Clay, honey, breathe with me. I'm fine, he didn't hurt me, I'm ok. I fell, he didn't hurt me, he didn't hurt me, he didn't hurt me," Emma murmured into his ear, not wanting her uncles to hear what she was saying. They could always blame it on a lot of other stressors, there were plenty to choose from in the last hour alone. There was no need to get everyone fired up anymore than they already were.

Clay forced his breathing to slow, this was fucking embarrassing. One little sighting from daddy and he turned back into the quivering child he was when he lived in the same house as the abusive asshole. Looking into Emma's shining blue eyes, Clay noted the tears tracking down her own cheeks. She had to be uncomfortable on the ground, but he knew that Emma would do whatever it took to make sure that he was ok, it was just in her nature.

Putting his hands under her armpits, Clay heaved her up from her knees and started to check her over frantically, searching her face and patting down her shoulders and arms for any sign that Ash had hit her, and she was hiding it from him.

"Clay," Emma stopped his hands from their search, holding them together. "I'm fine, Trent can give me a quick exam if you're worried."

Trent nodded, coming out of the corner, hands held in front of him. "I can look her over brother, help me?" Trent phrased it in a question, hoping that Clay was calm enough to recognize that he wasn't a threat. Trent vividly remembered the crazed look in his eyes when Emma had the flu and he gave her the injections. He definitely didn't want a repeat of that.

Clay thought for a moment, the nodded jerkily, shifting Emma to sit in the chair. He knew he was overreacting, but the minute he saw Ash's hands on Emma, all rational thought left his brain. Sitting on one of the cots placed next to Emma, Clay held her hand and tried to ignore the looks that his brothers were throwing him. He knew that they had a lot of questions for him, but he didn't really feel like answering them, or at least answering them out in the open. So ignore and operate was the name of the game at the moment.

"Why don't we give them some privacy, besides we need someone walking at all times to be considered active participants," Lisa said, shooing all of the men out of the room. Clay could use some privacy and if Lisa could give it to them, she would. There would be time for questions later.

"Davis, how, uh, long do you think we need to stay here? You know, show our faces and then leave?" Sonny was leaning towards leaving sooner than later, but they agreed to participate. Bravo wasn't a bunch of quitters.

"We have to stay for a little longer, but I think as long as we have one person walking, we can stay in the tent for the majority of it. You boys go and walk for a little bit, I'll come get you when you can come back in." Lisa was firm, they needed to get out for Clay to calm down and for Emma to gather her thoughts for a bit. Lisa Davis was no fool. She may have let Emma walk out of the tent, but that didn't mean that she didn't have her eyes on Emma the entire time she was out of the safety of Bravo territory. She would bet her next deployment pay that Emma had gotten into the nursing program and would bet even more money that this phone call would break her out of her funk.

The boys filed out, silently wishing that they could stay and comfort their brother, but Ray paused on his way out. Emma looked fine, no worse for wear than when they arrived. But Clay. Clay looked wrecked in a way that he had never seen before, even through all of the hardships that they had endured in the last year. He looked like a scared little boy. Sharing a glance with Davis, Ray shook his head. They would get the details out of Clay by the end of today, even if they had to drag it out of him.

Trent made a show of looking over Emma, motioning for Clay to move her every which way so that he could examine the healing bruises over her body. Listening to her lungs and her chest, Trent glanced up at Emma, biting her lip. Jerking her eyes in Clay's direction, Emma hoped that he was getting the hint.

She was fine. Clay was definitely not fine.

Trent nodded, he got the hint. Loud and clear: get the boys.

Packing up his supplies, Trent glanced over at Emma, noting the frown deepening on her face as she soothed Clay. She knew more than she was letting on, he was sure of it. Opening the flap to the tent, Trent poked his head out and motioned for everyone to come back inside. As they filed in one by one, the tension in the room could be cut with a dull knife. No one knew quite what to say, they didn't even know what had happened that had sent Clay so thoroughly over the edge.

Then Sonny opened his mouth.

And promptly stuck his foot in it.

"Hey Romeo, why don't you and I take a walk, calm down a little bit?"

"I'm fine, Sonny." Clay said tersely, clenching and unclenching his fist.

Sonny took a deep breath, this wasn't going well. "I know Clay, but let's step away from the little lady then, we can be fine over here," he said, inching towards them, not noticing the warning looks that Davis was throwing him.

Clay looked up incredulously, and then exploded. "I'm nothing like him Sonny! I'm not going to hurt her!" Standing with his chest heaving, Clay couldn't believe that Sonny actually thought that he would hurt Emma, that he would intentionally let his temper get out of check with her standing so close to him. He would never, couldn't even fathom the thought of hitting her. He was not his father. He wasn't.

Before Clay could move, all he saw was Emma's pretty blue eyes and her face, mottled with bruises. For a split second, he could imagine a future where Emma's face was bruised because of his hands, not because of an accident and he felt sick. Trembling, Clay let his fists drop as his face drained of color.

"Em, I would never, you know that I wouldn't, I promise, Emmie K… please believe me," Clay took a step towards her, then faltered. He didn't know if she wanted him near her. What if she was afraid of him?

"Honey, I know you would never hit me." Emma ignored how much it hurt to raise her arms wrapping them around his neck, pulling his face close to hers. "You are not your father, Clay Spenser. You will never hurt me."

"Hold on now, I never said that Rainbow was gonna hurt you, Sunshine. I just wanted him to calm down a little bit so that we could get to the bottom of this." Sonny stepped towards the pair, noting that Clays hands tightened ever so slightly around Emma's waist, pivoting his body in front of hers.

"It's fine Uncle Sonny, it was just a misunderstanding. You weren't saying that Clay would hurt me."

"I'm not like Ash, I would never," Clay muttered into her hair, one lone tear dripping down his face.

"What do you mean?" Trent said quietly. They were going to get to the bottom of this, even though his stomach was in knots. He knew what Clay meant, but for his own peace of mind, he needed to hear Clay say the words. For Clay's sake, he needed to say the words.

"Clay?" Emma said, dropping her voice to a whisper, waiting till he met her gaze. "You haven't told them?"

Clay shook his head. "It's not something that comes up in conversation Em. I just never… needed to say something. Telling you was different, you needed to know. I needed you to know."

"Clay. You needed her to know what?" Trent prompted, placing his shaking, sweaty hands on his jeans, trying to hide his anxiety from his brothers. Bravo was only as calm as he was. The minute he started to panic, the entire group would panic and there would be nothing accomplished. He needed to stay calm. Clay needed him to stay calm.

Sighing heavily, Clay sat down in the camping chair, placing Emma on his lap. He didn't care that Jason was watching him or that it would look inappropriate to other people. The curtains were drawn, and at this moment, they weren't teammates. They were brothers. Family. Looking over at Emma, Clay opened his mouth, but no sounds came out. Swiping his hand across his forehead, he noted that sweat was beading up on his brow despite the chill of the air.

"It's ok, Clay. You can tell them," Emma encourage, rubbing her thumb across the hand that she was holding. "They aren't going to think any less of you, I promise."

Clay studied her face, looking for any signs of apprehension. Studying the faces around him, Clay hesitated. "You all know that my childhood wasn't the best."

Emma wrinkled her nose, that would be the understatement of the century, but she didn't say anything. It was up to the boys if they wanted to prod further.

"I don't think any of us had perfect childhoods, Clay, " Brock prodded gently. "This is different, Ash is different."

"He was… , especially before I went to live with my grandparents, it wasn't very good. My mom was still alive, but there were moments when it was hard to live in the same house with the two of them and their problems, together. Team guys and Navy wives and all that," Clay joked weakly.

None of his brothers found it funny.

"Babe," Emma said, concern coloring her voice. She didn't want to interrupt, but she wouldn't let him sweep it under the rug. He deserved better. Brushing her hand against his curls, Emma stroked his forehead. Clay caught her hand in his, eyes softening under her gaze.

Brock watched Emma effortless comfort Clay, feeling like he was intruding on a moment that was deeply private. As they spent more and more time with Emma and Mikey at home, they were privileged to see the relationship that they had forged through fire. Brock had a feeling that Emma would poke and prod him until he spoke about his childhood, breaking Clay's confidence.

Taking a deep breath, Brock spoke again, unsure if he would get an answer. He had to try. "What was he like, Clay. Help me fill in the blanks." Ignoring the glares from Sonny, Brock turned to Trent. He would know what to do, how to get Clay to respond.

"He took his frustrations out with his fists, and that's all I want to say about it," Clay tried to shut down the discussion. He had said enough already.

"On you Clay?" Trent interrupted. From the corner of his eye, he could see Jason and Sonny raring up, Clay needed to get everything off of his chest before the two exploded. Ray was oddly silent, but he couldn't focus on him right now. He would get there eventually.

Clay hemmed and hawed for a moment, there was no way he couldn't answer the question. "Yeah. His fists, a bottle, whatever he had." Just because he admitted it, didn't mean that he had to give explicit detail. He didn't want to get into the nitty gritty, his nightmares were frequent enough.

"Brother. You're telling me that Ash took his frustrations out on you? His child? How old were you when you got sent to Liberia?" Ray said from the shadows, grief written across his face.

Ignoring the first question, Clay thought back. He was young when he was sent to Liberia, probably younger than should have technically been allowed at the time. "Maybe seven? I remember flying on the airplane next to a flight attendant, but the dates are hazy. I remember spending my ninth birthday with my grandparents, but I don't know if I was already eight or I turned eight during traveling."

"So you were a child. A child that didn't know any better. A child that didn't deserve to fear their parents. You were a child." Ray whispered the end of his sentence. How could a parent do that to their child, he would never understand.

Sonny spoke, keeping a strong hold on his temper. There was no room for explosions. "Is that where the scar on your collar bone came from?"

The room stood still, watching as Clay unconsciously stroked the left side of his chest. Looking at Sonny, Clay nodded, not trusting his voice. "Can we move on now? We've established that Ash is an asshole, definitely not father of the year. I don't really want to talk about it anymore." Burying his face in Emma's neck, Clay refused to look at his brothers. He didn't want to see the pity, the look of shame. He couldn't face them.

"You did nothing wrong, Clay," Jason stated firmly. "Absolutely nothing, but we don't have to talk about it anymore. We're gonna go walk, but I need you to stay with Emma, keep Ash from getting to her, can you do that?" Jason didn't really need Emma to stay in the tent, but it was the best plan that he could come up with that kept him from Ash. Emma widened her eyes, and nodded imperceptibly. She got the plan.

"Can we snuggle up?" Emma asked him quietly, not wanting her uncles to hear her request. It was private, Lisa would make sure that it stayed that way. She wouldn't let the boys see anything they weren't supposed to.

"I can do that, he won't get near her Jay, I promise." Clay wrapped his arms tighter around Emma, holding her on his waist.

"Alright kid, tell Lisa to come get us if you need something. Rest. We'll be going home soon." Jason made the move to walk back out onto the track, clenching his fists. He hoped his team would follow, the kids needed each other for a moment.

"Please tell me that we aren't going to let this go, sonuva bitch don't deserve to get off for this shit," Sonny swore under his breath, not wanting Clay to overhear.

"I think," Brock said slowly, "We need to learn to let it go and to support him. What happened to him is in the past, but that doesn't mean that we let Ash close to him. Brothers protect brothers." Brock spoke, not wanting everyone to get all riled up without a manner in which they could relieve the stress. Eliminating Ash Spenser wasn't an option, and an attack that was unprovoked would just end with disciplinary action in their jackets. Walking laps around the track, the boys formed a solid, formidable line across, each thinking about their brother. What his life must have been like as a child. Who did he turn to in the middle of the night when he had a nightmare? Who kissed his boo boos? Who read him stories and tucked him as a child? Brock shook his head. His brother had had none of that a child, but now? The man would sneeze and several grown ass men were tripping over themselves to ensure that he was taken care of. And among those men was one equally formidable young woman who was arguably more scary than any terrorist that Brock had encountered. No one messed with what was Emma's, that was shockingly apparent in the way that she cared for Clay. Brock glanced down at his watch, Charlie Team had called it quits an hour ago. They should be clear to go home. Nudging Ray, Brock led the boys back to the tent, hoping that they would go quietly

Approaching the opening of the tent, Brock sent Cerberus in first, hoping that they wouldn't be disturbing anything. Hopefully Clay and Emma were both asleep resting. When Cerb came back out, Brock stuck his head in, overhearing the tail end of the conversation.

"Emmie K, I'm so proud of you," Clay was sitting in the camping chair, still holding Emma in his lap. Brock pulled his head out and shook his head at his brothers.

"Let's give them a few more minutes. We all going back to your place boss?"

"Yeah, for a bit. I think the kid is gonna go back to his place, take Em with him." Jason mused, rubbing his hand down his face.

"You gonna let him brother?" Ray interrupted, still trying to wrap his head around the revelations that had come from tonight. He was planning on snuggling his kids tonight, and holding his own girl close. You never waste good, and his family was the best thing in his life.

"He needs her, I'm not gonna take it away from him. Let's go home."

Parting the curtains on the tent, Jason motioned at Emma and gathered the rest of his stuff. Before he left, he threw over his shoulder, "Home before bed Em." He would go home and hug his other child tightly, grateful that he could at least provide his children with a loving home, even if it wasn't the most stable. His children knew that they were loved and cherished and that their parents loved them. Clay didn't have that as a kid, but he would damn make sure that he had that now. He was damn sure that Emma would make it happen. His girl was a force to be reckoned with and heaven help Ash Spenser if he ever tried to show his face again. Emma would win the fight hands down, and Adam Seaver would be smiling down on all of them.


	11. Chapter 11

Packing up her stuff, Emma kept stealing glances at Clay. The tension in his jaw and shoulders combined with the hardened look in his blue eyes was not a good sign. This was going to be a long night. Emma shuddered, thinking back the facetime where Clay had originally told her about the abuse that Ash Spenser had inflicted on his child, the rage that swelled in her chest at the thought of a younger Clay with bruises and tears streaming down his face. The shame that she wanted to erase off of his strong features. No child should have to endure thinking that their father would take out their frustrations on them, nor should they be having nightmares twenty years after the abuse had ended because the asshole decided that he wanted to come back into his life. She would find a way to fix this, she had to. No one was going to hurt Clay anymore, she would make sure of it and her uncles would help her, mostly with their fists, but help all the same.

"Clay are you ready to go?" Emma said, grabbing her bag from the floor, wincing when she twisted the wrong way.

Before she could put the bag over her shoulders, Clay grabbed it from her and laced his fingers with hers. Kissing the top of her head, Clay broke his silence, "Yeah honey, let's go home."

Walking hand in hand, the pair made their way over to Clay's truck, in comfortable silence. There were no words that could make Clay feel better and there was nothing that Clay could say that would settle Emma's nerves. They were at an impasse, neither quite knowing what to do and how to move forward without digging deeper into things that Clay would prefer to never think of again.

As Clay drove, Emma rubbed her thumb against the smooth skin of his hand, trying to comfort him without saying a word, there were no words. When the car was finally parked in Clay's spot, Emma turned to look at Clay, waiting until he met her gaze.

"I know you're not ok, and you don't have to pretend to be ok with what happened today, but please don't shut me out."

Clay picked up the hand that he was still holding, bringing it to his lips. "You're right Em, but I want to just forget that this happened and move on. What's in the past is in the past." Clay dropped her hand and got out of the car, opening the door for Emma.

Biting her tongue, Emma followed Clay into his apartment. This wasn't good. She knew from personal experience that burying things wasn't going to help, it would only lead to a breakdown later on, which would not go over well if it happened when they were off of US soil. She needed to get to the root of the issue before he deployed again.

Emma went to the refrigerator and took out a bottle of water, hoping that it would help settle her nerves. Hearing Clay rustle around in his bedroom, Emma wandered over to the doorway and watched him shrug into a different shirt. Emma studied his face carefully, noting that there were unshed tears still in his eyes, and her heart broke.

"Em, do you want to go somewhere and celebrate? I'm so proud of you, I knew you would get in, there was no way that they could turn you down," Clay stood in the middle of the room, half in his shirt, half out of it.

Emma couldn't ignore it any longer, she wouldn't let him bury his emotions. It wasn't safe. And it definitely wasn't healthy. "Clay, you're not ok. Didn't we agree not to say we're fine if we're not fine? You're not fine, honey. Not at all."

Clay's lip trembled, and he raised his hand to scrub against his face, not wanting his tears to break through. He felt Emma's thin arms wrap around his waist and her comforting warmth settle against his chest and she rubbed her small hands up and down his back. The tears that he was trying so desperately to keep inside came out in a rush. Hiding his face in Emma's neck, Clay let himself cry for the first time since Brian died. He cried for his fallen friend, his fallen mentor, and for the childhood that he never quite got to mourn. Held up by Emma's strength, Clay finally figured out what it meant to lean on someone the way the Ray leaned on Naima. She knew the darkest parts of him, knew all of the secrets that he kept, knew that he wasn't always the good guy; and yet she loved him for it. How he ever found a woman that loved every piece of him still blew his mind. Without a doubt, Emma Hayes deserved far better than him, but he would spend the rest of his life trying to prove himself worthy of her.

When the tears slowed, Clay lifted his face, tears still dripping down his cheeks. "You're right Em, I'm not ok. But I can't be this weak, the boys depend on me to be strong. How can they trust me to do my job if I cry every time I see my own father?" Clay questioned, not bothering to wipe the tears away. He wouldn't hide himself from Emma. Looking down at Emma's face, he wondered if this was the final straw that would make Emma give up on him, he was broken.

"Baby, they don't find you weak. I promise you, that is the last thing that is on their minds. You were a _child_," Emma tried to get Clay to look up at her, sincerity shining in her blue eyes. "You are infinitely stronger than any other man that I know because of the things that you have fought through, the struggles that you have overcome. You are not weak, you are not broken. You are loved, and you are a better man that Ash could ever hope to be," Emma said, wiping the tear tracks away.

Clay dropped his head down to rest against her forehead, sniffling quietly. Opening his eyes again, Clay leaned down, intent on kissing her and showing her just how much he loved her, when they were interrupted by a knock at the door.

"Clay! Clay! I know that you're in there! Open the door, son. I just want to talk!"

With wide eyes, Clay looked down at Emma, before dragging her into the bathroom that was attached to the bedroom. Clay knew that Emma wouldn't want to stay away from Ash, but he couldn't focus if she was in harms way. Is Ash hit him, he was at least used to it, he would never forgive himself if Ash took a swing at Emma, "Stay here Em, please" Clay pleaded.

"Clay…" Emma didn't want to stay, but she would, that didn't mean that she wouldn't be listening for any signs of trouble. The calvary was coming whether Clay knew it or not.

"Please Emmie K,"

The knocking on the door turned to banging as Clay left her in the bathroom to open the door. Hearing the raised voices of the Spenser men, Emma took her phone from her back pocket, pressing speed dial number one. "Come on dad, pick up the phone,"

The phone rang once before it was picked up, and Emma was never so grateful to hear the sound of her uncles' voices.

"Daddy? I need help,"

The boys dragged themselves inside, each worn out from the emotional day that was supposed to be a day of relaxation and friendly competition. Of course, Ash Spenser had to come and ruin that for everyone. Settling down around the fire pit with a beer in hand, Ray was lost in his own thoughts, gazing into the flames. He couldn't wrap his head around the fact that someone had so much hate inside their heart that they could justify taking their frustrations out on a child, an innocent child. He couldn't imagine ever being so hateful and spiteful that he would raise a hand to Jameelah or RJ, or god forbid, to Naima. Ray wouldn't be able to look at himself in the mirror every morning if he struck his family, how could Ash do it so, so cavalierly. Ray could picture a smaller version of the know-it-all blonde with impish blue eyes looking up at the world in fear. It was a wonder that the man he was today could trust anyone, and that Emma had gotten past his defenses. Looking over at Eric, Ray couldn't stop the words that bubbled out of his mouth before he could think about what he was saying. "Eric, how the fuck did you work with Ash Spenser and not know? What kind of man is able to hide that from his team?"

"He was an asshole, arrogant, pompous. Talented with a gun, good at charming people, better at fighting. He was a good operator. As long as he did his job, we didn't look too closely at what he did while we were stateside." Eric sighed, taking another swig of his beer, wishing that it was whiskey, wishing that he had done more to save Clay as a child. There were a lot of things that he wished he did differently.

Trent scoffed, "Just a shitty human being then," Trent said, draining the rest of his beer, swiftly cracking a second. Now that the abuse was confirmed, Trent was going over the mental files that he had for his teammates. Clay's reluctance to admit injuries took on a whole new meaning. In the past, when he spoke about injuries, they were met with another fist to dodge, not a bandaid and a kiss. No wonder why he didn't want to mention them to the medic, Trent wouldn't if he wasn't sure if they would be treated. Taking another sip of his beer, Trent wondered how he was going to beat that reaction out of him, then cringed when he realized the terminology he used in his head. He needed more beer.

The men lapsed into silence again, each lost in their thoughts of how they were going to help their brother. They weren't going to fail him this time, they couldn't.

The silence was broken by the ringing of Jason's phone, an obnoxiously loud, old-fashioned telephone ring. Ray remembered when Emma set the damn thing so Jason would stop missing the calls that they had scheduled, but now it was a welcome break in the tension. Chuckling Jason pulled out his phone and answered it, half expecting Emma to ask permission to stay over for the night. Depending on how she asked him, he just might let her too. How wrong he was.

"Daddy? I need help,"

Jasons at up straighter in his chair, clutching the phone tightly in his hand. She was with Clay, why did she need help? Clay wouldn't let her out of his sight if they were in trouble, unless getting her to safety was more important.

"Emma Kate, what's going on? Where's Clay?" His tone got the attention of the rest of his men, each gathering their belongings and dousing out the flames in the fire pit.

"Ash is here, Clay went to open the door, told me to stay put. He's still pretty upset," Jason could picture the way that Emma was biting her lip and tugging on the end of her hair, even without seeing her. His baby girl was nothing if not predictable.

Looking at his men, standing around him, Jason nodded. "We're on our way Em, ok? Stay where you are, do not engage. Do you understand, do not engage."

"I won't, hurry please."

The phone clicked and once again the boys piled into the car, speeding towards Clay's apartment. Sonny sat in the front seat of the car, cracking his knuckles ominously. "What's going on with Sunshine and Romeo?"

"Ash decided that he wanted to show his face again, came banging down Clay's door." Jason said tightly. It wouldn't do well to lose his temper, but it was dangerously close to slipping. Screeching into a parking space, the boys raced up the stairs, hearing the ragged sound of Clay panting. The man was in the best shape of his life, he didn't break a sweat running hills but make him fight hand to hand? He sounded more out of breath than Sonny's grandninny climbing the stairs.

Rounding the corner, the boys watched in horror as Ash swung his fist and Clay dodged out of the way, crashing to the floor. Just as Ash was going in for a second punch, Sonny swore, "Ah hell no, not my brother," tackling him to the floor, holding him in place with a knee to the chest.

Ray stopped for a moment, enjoying the sight of Ash on the floor before hauling Sonny off of Ash, not caring that the man was winded on the floor. Keeping an eye on Brock who had his hands firmly on Clay's arms, he spat "We warned you once. Stay away from my brother, you won't like it if I have to be the one to tell you next time."

Focusing his attention on Clay, Ray didn't notice Emma coming towards the door, or when Ash got up off the floor and turned his attention towards the girl. He just heard the aftermath, the sound of crunching bones and muttered curses, and the sight of Ash on the floor.

"That was for Clay, you bastard," Emma spat, holding her hand close to her chest, desperately trying to ignore the throbbing in her knuckles.

Ash tried to get up one more time, intent on attacking the girl that had just put him on his ass but was interrupted at the sight of Jason and Trent standing shoulder to shoulder next to her, silently. If Ash tried something for a third time, they wouldn't be able to control themselves. As it was, they were having a hard time not beating the ever loving shit out of Ash. If he tried to hit Emma all bets were off.

Seven men, one woman, and one dog watched as Ash Spenser slinked away, hopefully never to be seen again. Clay shook Brock off, going over to Emma and kissing her soundly, uncaring that her entire family was watching them. Slinging his arm around her shoulder, Clay walked into his apartment, noting that his brothers were following them in his apartment. Settling on the long part of his couch, Clay was unsurprised when Emma tucked herself under his arm, still trembling slightly. His girl wasn't one for violence, but when necessary she could be just as bloodthirsty as the rest of them. Rubbing his hand up and down her arm, Clay focused on Emma, hoping that she would calm down a little now that she knew they were safe, not paying a lick of attention to Sonny.

Sonny Quinn could not have been more proud of his Sunshine, she took everything that she had learned from him and Trent and laid out Clay's old man with a single punch. While Emma was safe in Romeo's arms, Sonny took the opportunity to look around the apartment. It was far too pretty for Clay to have been the only one living here, or at the very least the one that decorated the place. It had Emma's stamp of approval all over it, from the framed picture on the table to the frou-frou candle that was on the kitchen table. No way Clay would go out of his way to buy a candle of all things. Spying the white fluffy blanket that Ray had bought for Emma the previous Christmas, it struck Sonny over the head faster than being bucked off of the mechanical bull. The apartment wasn't Clay's. Well, it was. But it wasn't just Clay's, Emma definitely stayed there as well. It was the only explanation that he could think of, but Sonny wasn't mad. This was good, Emma was good for Clay. He wouldn't say anything about it, not unless he was asked. And maybe not even then.

Clay's shaking voice interrupted his thoughts, and sparked the flame of rage inside his chest once more, "Well, you've met Ash before, but I guess this is the first time you've seen my Ash," Clay said wryly. There was no use in denying it at this point, they all already knew all of the skeletons he hid in his closet.

"We did," Brock said, wanting to get his thoughts out before they were overshadowed by his more talkative brothers. "We saw that asshole you call a father, we saw how he must have treated you as a child, and we are amazed at how many odds you overcame to be the person you are right now." Cerb barked in agreement.

"You have nothing to be ashamed of, at all. Wish I coulda put my fist through his face, but Sunshine here beat me to it. You're our brother now, and heaven help anyone who tries to mess with Sonny Quinn's family. We got ya little buddy"

"You too Em," Trent said quietly. He would do whatever it took to protect his family, and with his brothers at his side, they were unbeatable.

Jason pushed himself off of the wall, going over to Clay. "Why don't you and Em come back to the house, we'll have a team night." Jason planned the evening just as he did everything else, on the fly. Not waiting for his men to either accept or decline, Jason helped Emma and Clay up, herding them towards the door. Jason waited until his lent were all out of the apartment before turning around to lock the door, spotting Emma's jacket and favorite bag on the table. He was glad the she had a place to go when he wasn't home, she was growing faster than he likes, but he was proud of the woman she was becoming and he knew that Alana would be proud, of that he was certain.


	12. Chapter 12

Clay sighed, flipping through the channels on his TV one more time, hoping that there would be something on TV that was better than an old re-run of a cop show that was horribly overacted. Emma was out with friends for the night, and from his understanding, she would be indulging in her rare night off with Hannah.

Emma didn't get to take a night off very often, so when they had a long weekend the girls jumped at the chance to spend some interrupted time together. From the snapchats that he was getting from Emma, he gathered that they had cracked open their bottles of wine and were having a good time, under the careful supervision of Naima and Victoria Seaver. Wine nights were sacred in the ladies' only nights and it was high time that the girls were inducted into the club, especially once they had figured out that Clay had started dating Emma. He could still remember the grin that spread across Naima's face as she popped open the bottle of wine and poured Emma her first official glass as a part of the SEAL Wives Club.

Sighing, Clay took a sip of his beer, scowling at the taste. It was only nine, and normally it wouldn't be close to his bed time, but without Emma, his nights were boring. Ray had baby duty for the night since Naima was with the girls. Brock was at a training conference with Cerberus, he was out. Trent was home, and gave strict instructions that he didn't want to be disturbed, Clay wasn't going to touch that one with a ten foot pole. He just didn't want to know. Sonny left without saying anything, but Clay would bet that he was out somewhere with Lisa. Again he didn't want to touch that one. Of course, there was Jason. But that again would be awkward if Emma happened to call or showed up at the apartment. That would definitely not go over well and it left him all alone for the evening.

Sighing Clay picked up his container of takeout and his still full bottle of beer, dumping them in the trash before cleaning up the living room for the night. Folding the blanket that he was using, he caught the slight scent of Emma's perfume on the blanket. Smiling, he brought the blanket into the bedroom with him and while he was getting ready for bed, he didn't hear the buzzing of his phone on the counter.

The phone buzzed for a second time and Clay saw the screen light up with a picture of him and Emma, he rushed over to answer the facetime before it went to voicemail again. The screen buffered for a moment, before Clay saw Emma's flushed cheeks and sparkling blue eyes, she was definitely further towards the side of drunk than sober.

"Clay!" Emma exclaimed, a wide smile on her face. The phone wobbled for a moment before Naima took the phone from her hands.

"Clay, I'm sorry to interrupt your night. Emma's had a little too much to drink, wanted to call in for a little bit. Are you home?" Naima looked harried, but Clay had a feeling that most of that was due to her intoxication. Clay could hear the sound of a movie playing in the background and Hannah giggling with Jenna.

"Yeah I'm home, do you need me to come pick her up?" Clay slipped on his shoes, grateful that he hadn't changed for bed yet and was still mostly dressed.

Clay studied Naima's face, watching as her considered her options. She had promised Jason that she wouldn't let Emma get too drunk but here she was on her couch, giggling over a man in the chick flick they were watching because he looked like Clay. The girl was drunk and delivering her to her father right now wasn't the best option. "I don't mind Naima, she's definitely taken care of my drunk ass before," Clay wheedled, wanting Naima to agree. Before she could get a word out, Emma took the phone back from Naima with a loud giggle

"Hi Clay!" Emma hiccupped gently, surprise showing on her face.

"Hi honey, how do you feel? You have a little wine?"

"Aunt Victoria let me have a bottle to myself, she said it was a good, a good, uh, therapy!" Emma said with a grin, swaying on the couch leaning against the arm of the couch, giving Clay a good eyeful of the white tanktop that Emma wore. The flush on her cheeks spread down to her chest, making Clay's throat and mouth dry up.

"Oh did she? Did you ever wind up watching that movie?" Clay was enjoying seeing Emma a little uninhibited, she was often times so serious when they were with other people. This was the Emma that came out when they were alone and he was glad that she was starting to feel comfortable enough to show other people, even if she had to get a little drunk to get there.

"Mmm, yeah! We watched Magic Mike," Emma giggled, biting her lip.

"Are you having a good time Emmie K?" Clay laughed, he had seen the trailers for that movie. There was a lot of dancing half naked men, it was definitely the right kind of movie for a GNO.

"Uh huh, but I miss ya Clay, that's why I called silly." Emma pouted slightly, struggling to get off of the couch, lacking the coordination to use her arms and legs at the same time.

"Babe, stay there ok? Give Naima the phone and I'll see if I can come scoop you, but you gotta do a few things first ok?"

The phone shuffled for a moment before Clay saw Naima grinning. "I guess you're coming to get Emma?"

"Yeah, I'm on my way to come grab her, do me a favor and take the wine away and replace it with some water. Try and get her to eat something too, sober up a little bit at least."

Naima sighed, "I'll do my best, I still have to figure out how to get Hannah and Jenna into bed later, they're all pretty wasted. I hate being the sober one," Naima grumbled.

"Give me fifteen minutes, I'll come in and grab her, I doubt she's gonna be able to walk."

"Ok, just come on in when you get here,"

"Sure thing,"

The phone clicked and Clay grabbed his keys off the hook and slid his wallet into the back pocket of his jeans before getting in his truck. He hoped that Emma would stay a happy drunk and they would just get to snuggle together. She was definitely cute when she was drunk. Pulling up to the Perry house, Clay twisted the knob on the door slowly, unsure of what he was going to find on the other side.

The lights were low and Emma was sitting on the couch, bottle of water held loosely in her hand, still giggling quietly. Hannah tucked in beside her, already fast asleep. Emma's eye slit up when she saw him but she settled back down when she saw Clay's finger held in front of his mouth.

"Clay?" Naima said, walking towards the door, dish towel still in hand.

"Hey Naima," Clay said, hands stuffed awkwardly in his pockets. He wasn't sure how this was supposed to go down. Was he picking up Emma to go home or was he going to drop her off at her place? Did Naima know anything about their relationship? Was their relationship the source of scuttlebutt among the women?

"Clay," Naima sighed, then lowered her voice. "She's drunk, don't take her back to Jason's. Is it ok if she stays at your apartment tonight, I'll cover for her in the morning with the girls." Naima was pleading, Emma had only settled when she told her that Clay was coming over. She didn't want to wake the others by telling her that she was going home, without him.

"It's fine, Naima. I'll get her settled on the couch and we'll watch a movie. She's drunk, better here than at a party somewhere we couldn't keep an eye on them." Clay moved towards the couch and knelt in between Emma's legs, hands on her thighs. For a moment, Clay flashed to another activity where he could kneel between her legs… Shaking his head free of the image, Clay waited for Emma to look at his face. When her eyes met his, he smiled at the longing look that came over Emma's face, but didn't anticipate her surging forward to wrap her arms around his neck. Well, that was easy, he thought to himself. Pushing himself off the floor, Clay carried Emma out the front door with a wave goodbye to Naima.

Emma was fairly quiet until they were about five minutes from home. She started shifting in her seat, and Clay glanced over at her worried that she was going to be sick. "You alright Em?"

Emma nodded, shifting over so that her head was resting against his shoulder. Clay sighed in relief, he didn't think that Emma had something else up her sleeve, which is why he nearly crashed the car when he felt Emma's tiny hand on the inside of his thighs. "Em?" He squeaked out, unsure of where this was going.

"Shhh," Emma whispered, kissing up his neck, sucking on his earlobe. It took everything in him to focus on the road, Emma was driving him crazy.

"Emmie K, you gotta stop babe, you're gonna make me crash the car," Clay panted out, thanking his lucky stars that he was pulling into the parking lot of his apartment. Turning the car off, he twisted in his seat and was suddenly surrounded by his girl, straddling his lap, hand still caressing his thighs.

"Em, we can't do this." Clay couldn't help himself from thrusting up once, twice, then grinding in a circle before pulling his mouth away from Emma. Dropping his head on her shoulder, Clay tried to gather his thoughts. Emma was drunk, they were in the car, they needed to stop no matter how much Clay wanted to, or how Emma was making him feel.

"Why not? You're enjoying it," Emma giggled, running her hand underneath his t shirt, feeling the abs ripple and contract under her touch. Her head was swimming with images of half naked men dancing around her, she wanted him. Badly.

"You're drunk honey, let's go inside," Clay pleaded, fingers stilling her rocking hips. Emma kissed him gently, nipping on his bottom lip.

"Clay," Emma breathed out, waiting for him to open his eyes again. "I want you, I'm not that drunk, just tipsy baby."

Both Emma and Clay sat for a moment, staring at each other. Clay nodded, and Emma shifted off of his lap and got out of the truck, raising one eyebrow at him. Walking hand in hand, Emma waited before they were in the apartment and the door was locked behind them before dragging Clay's face down to meet hers, kissing him soundly. The pair stood there, pressed against the bedroom door. Emma brushed her tongue against Clay's bottom lip and rose up on her toes. Wiggling her hand in between their bodies, Emma once again reached for the buckle on Clay's belt, only to be stopped again.

"Em, babe. We can't, I won't take advantage of you." Clay said, grabbing her hands in his. Turning her down is the hardest thing Clay has had to do; bruised lips, heaving chest, and her body pressed up against his was not something he wanted to let go of, ever. But he wasn't that guy. He couldn't betray her trust like that.

"You wouldn't be," Emma whispered, resting her forehead against his chest, shifting uncomfortably. The tension in her belly was making it unbearable to sit and do nothing, she needed more, something, anything.

"Baby, let me go take a shower, take care of this. We'll eat some leftovers, watch some TV. It's just us for the night," Clay soothed, trying to make her understand that he wasn't turning her down, he was just turning it down for the moment. Even if it killed him to turn it down at all. He was a fucking idiot for turning it down.

Emma nodded biting her lip, trying not to scream from impatience. She wasn't drunk, she was just horny! Turning away from Clay, Emma went over to the dresser and pulled out a t shirt. Lying on the bed, Emma closed her eyes and tried to ignore the throbbing between her legs and the flush that she knew was still present on her cheeks. If Clay wasn't going to do anything, that didn't mean she couldn't…

Dipping her fingers underneath the hem of her thong, Emma thought back to the lazy afternoon they spent in bed after moving into this apartment and the feel of Clay's hands on her butt, his lips on her neck. Emma brought her other hand up to cup her breast, twirling her nipple between her fingers just like Clay did, gasping at the sensation. Distantly she heard the shower turn off, but she couldn't find it in herself to care, she was almost there, almost…

Then she heard Clay's voice.

Clay shut the bathroom door and leaned against, taking a deep breath. He just turned down his very hot, very sexy girlfriend who wanted to spend time with him.

Who was now laying in his bed.

Hot and bothered.

Alone.

Cursing under his breath, Clay twisted the knob of the shower, letting the warmth of the shower run over him. If he was going to spend the rest of the night trying to keep his own hormones in check, he deserved to release some of that tension. Standing under the spray, Clay grasped his cock with his right hand, groaning. He wished it was Emma's hand wrapped around him. Stroking slowly, Clay pictured Emma in the shower with him, water running down her slim body, kneeling in front of him. Rubbing his thumb over the slit of his cock, Clay gasped, closing his eyes. He was so close, if he concentrated hard, he could almost hear the pants and groans that would drip from Emma's lips. With one last stroke, Clay gasped harshly, twisting the knob off violently. It was his own fault that Emma wasn't with him, he turned down his ready and willing girlfriend for his right hand. He was an idiot. A gentleman, but an idiot. Clay sighed, putting on a fresh pair of boxers and dried his hair with a towel. He was hoping that Emma had fallen asleep while he was in the shower, or maybe she was snuggled up watching a movie. He tiptoed out of the bathroom and stopped in the doorway, jaw dropping to the floor. Of all the scenarios that he had created in his head, he didn't think of this one.

She was on top of the covers.

Shirt rucked up.

Legs spread wide.

Bottom lip trapped between her teeth.

It was his perfect wet dream, right in front of his face.

"Emma," he whispered, stunned. She was in his bed, wearing his clothes, with one of her hands underneath the tiny black thong she was wearing, gasping and panting his name.

She ignored him, chasing the release that was right there, but she couldn't get to, no matter how hard she thrust her fingers or how fast she rubbed her clit. Emma felt the bed move, but didn't open her eyes, she was so close she could taste her orgasm.

"You're almost there baby," Clay whispered, running his hand down her arm, feeling the frantic movements of her hand.

"Clay," she gasped, opening her eyes and twisting her head. "I want you babe."

"You've got me, I'm right here," Clay reassured her, dropping his lips onto her neck, sucking hard, then soothing the mark with his tongue.

"Please, please, touch me," Emma whimpered.

Clay debated with himself for a moment, before covering her hand with his and knocking it out of the way. "I've got you babe, let me make you feel good."

Emma nodded, squirming, hips rolling against nothing.

"Emmie, can I take this off?" Clay said, stroking his hands up her sides, bringing the hem of her, well his, shirt up with his hands.

"Yes, anything Clay" Emma tugged the shirt off, lying in his bed with just a tiny thong covering her body.

"You're gorgeous Em," he said kissing down her body, stopping to suck at her nipples. Tugging at one with his teeth, he felt Emma's hands tangle in his hair, pushing his head down further. Kissing down her belly, Clay stopped at the hem of her underwear. "Babe?"

"Yes, yes, please," Emma didn't know what she was begging for, she just wanted something, anything at this point

Taking a deep breath, Clay tugged her underwear down off her hips, leaving her naked in his bed for the first time. Gently he freed the thong from around her ankles and spread her legs, kissing up until he reached her thighs. "Em, tell me what you want here? My fingers?"

Emma stopped, thinking for a moment. She wanted everything that Clay would give her, whatever that was. Nodding, Emma rocked her hips up again, trying to find some friction.

"Ok, I gotcha babe," Clay brought his hand up from its place on her thigh and brushed against her gently, not prepared for the long moan that came from deep in her throat.

"Clay, I need more," she whined, clutching the sheets.

Clay didn't waste anymore time, thrusting his finger quickly before sucking a mark on her hip, kissing down until his lips closed around her clit, suckling gently. He could feel Emma rising higher and higher, moaning his name in one continuous loop, just as she was about to go over the edge, she gasped, moaning, "Clay fuck me harder."

Clay added another finger, increasing the speed of his thrusts until she plummeted into her orgasm, practically screaming her relief, wetness dripping down her fingers. Clay thrust gently against her as she came down from her high, removing his fingers gently and kissing up her body. Once he was lying next to her, he sucked his fingers into his mouth, not knowing that Emma was watching him, lust still evident in her eyes.

"You are the sexiest man alive," Emma whispered, rolling until she was curled up against his chest.

"Nah Emmie K, that's you," He said, looking her up and down, admiration clear in his gaze. "That was the hottest thing that I've ever seen in my entire life," Clay admitted

Biting her lip, Emma kissed him gently. The lust was fading from her body, the alcohol that she consumed making her sleepy. "What about you, Clay?" Emma whispered, dragging her hand down to his waist.

"I'm good Em, came in my pants like a teenager at the sight of you," Clay admitted, feeling the tell tale stickiness in his boxers. He didn't even realize that he had come, fixated entirely at the vixen in his bed.

"Ok," Emma nodded sleepily, snuggling down.

Clay chuckled, he had worn her out and they didn't even have sex. When they had sex, they were going to need an interrupted evening, and maybe a few protein bars to get through it, especially if it was going to be that explosive. Wrapping his arm around her, he pulled the covers over them. The world was good right now, he was in his bed and his girl was in his arms. They would deal with real life in the morning, but for now, Clay was going to dream about Emma, and their life together.


	13. Chapter 13

Wincing, Emma sat up on the trainer's table and watched as more and more ice was wrapped around her hip and her thigh. Sighing at the instant relief that it provided, Emma hopped off the table and waved to the athletic trainer with a smile, knowing that Trent would insist on looking at the hip the next time that she saw him, or better yet, Jamie would just put the joint back into place for her. Walking quickly to her car, Emma limped and tried to move every which way to try and prevent her hip from aching and her toes from rubbing against the inside of her shoe, she definitely tore a toenail or two.

Pulling up the familiar street, Emma cursed when she saw the cars parked along her driveway. Sonny's souped up pickup truck, along with Trent's SUV meant the entire team was at her house. Great, it was poker night, just what she needed. It wasn't that she didn't love the boys, they were her family after all. But there were times when a girl just needed some alone time, especially when they were going to act like a bunch of mother hens over a displaced joint. Lord help her when she mentioned she ripped her toenail off, they would be apoplectic.

Twisting the door open, Emma was surprised to see Jamie sitting down next to Trent, but they had gotten a lot closer since they patched her and Hannah up together. It would be good for Jamie to have someone in his life that was a proper role model, not just someone who would use him for his political career like his own father. Dropping her bag by the door, Emma limped her way into the kitchen, raising a hand to wave to the boys, hoping that they were a little too drunk to watch her very closely. Dropping a quick kiss to Clay's cheek, she tried to hide her left hip from view as much as possible, hoping that they would just ignore the ice.

No such luck apparently.

"Emmie K, you good over there?" Jamie said, placing his cards down on the table, peering around to try and get a better look at her.

"I'm fine Jamie, just popped the SI out," Emma said calmly, taking a sip from her water bottler before peeling the saran wrapped bag of ice off of her hip. "Pretty sure there's a toenail or two that I ripped off as well."

"What do you mean, you're pretty sure? You either ripped them off or you didn't." Jamie said confused, getting up from his chair, walking over to the island to look at her more closely. Clad in leggings and a purple tank top, Jamie could clearly see the sweat stains on the shirt and the sports bra she wore underneath it, rehearsal had definitely taken its toll on her this afternoon.

"I haven't exactly taken the shoe off to look, it's bleeding for sure, but if it's torn I don't know. You know I'm a baby when it comes to this kinda stuff," Emma admitted, not looking at anyone. Even pivoting on her feet made her hip hurt, the joint was definitely out of place.

"Emma, what do you mean you tore off your toenail?" Brock said horrified, looking around the table at his brothers. Why on Earth would she ever know about that particular brand of torture. And why was she talking about it like it happened every day, Curling his toes inside his boots, Brock hoped that he would never get to know what that sensation felt like, not as long as he lived.

"And what in the everloving hell is an SI?" Sonny added, gesturing with his beer bottle. His sunshine didn't look hurt, she was sweaty and looked tired, but not beaten.

"Em," Clay said gently, also rising from his seat after a long look from Jason.

"Guys, it's fine. Rehearsal was just rough today, I'm sore. It's like when you go and have a hard workout and complain that your abs hurt the next day," Emma placated. The boys were getting riled up for no reason, and she wasn't in the mood to deal with their overprotectiveness at the current moment. "Dancing for that long, combined with repetitive movements can cause the toenail to fall off, it's not normal, but it can happen and it has happened to me before. SI is just a fancy word for a joint in your pelvis, I have problems with mine, Uncle Sonny. And it slips out from time to time, especially if the asshole you're dancing with drops you, repeatedly."

"Were you working on showcase stuff?" Jamie asked, laughing internally at the way Emma managed to wrangle six fully grown men with a few sentences. It really was quite impressive that they all managed to be quiet and listen at the same time, without interrupting. She definitely had a gift, a frogman whisperer.

"Yes and right now? It's a hot mess express and will not be ready by next week by the time I have to perform for this stupid class. I'm going to shower, will you put my SI back into place when I'm done?" Emma said exasperatedly. She wanted to wash the day off and the longer she stood still, the more her hip hurt.

Jamie nodded, and offered his hand to help her, but Emma waved him off, inching her way up the stairs to her shower. The boys were quiet once they heard the sound of the water turn on, but a knock at the door had them jumping once more.

Jason sighed, emptying his beer. It wasn't going to be good if someone was knocking at this hour and they were all too drunk to even think about being spun up right now.

"Hannah?" Definitely not the person that Jason thought he was going to see on the other side of his door that evening. Better than being spun up, he supposed.

"Hi Uncle Jason, Emma forgot to try on her costume at school, is she home yet?"

"Yeah, she's showering. You can go on up and wait for her if you'd like, I'm sure she won't be much longer. She looked like she had a rough rehearsal though."

Nodding happily, Hannah walked up the steps, smirking. Emma was going to flip.

Luxuriating in the steam of her shower, Emma was starting to feel slightly more human than when she walked in the door. Turning the knob of her shower off, Emma slipped into her pajamas, towel drying her hair when she walked into her bedroom, smack into Hannah. "Hannah?" Emma said, surprise coloring her tone. She had just seen her at school, and she didn't mention that she was coming over at night.

"Hi, you left before I could come find you. I have your showcase costume for you to try on," Hannah tried to contain the smirk on her face, but was failing epically.

"You know Jamie's here right?" Emma asked, not knowing if they had talked or not. Jamie was set to deploy in a few days, and the relationship between the two of them was anything but settled the last time that Emma had spoken with Hannah.

"I know, it's ok. We're working on it."

Emma studied her face, looking for any sign of dishonesty, finding none. "Ok, let me get Jamie to look at my hip and my toe, then I'll come try it on." Limping down the stairs with Hannah on her other side, Emma nodded at Jamie, bypassing the table and going straight for the couch.

"Alright Emmie K, let's put your hip back in. Clay you want to give me a hand?"

Clay looked at him in surprise, he didn't have the most medical training, surely Trent would be a better option. "Uh, sure?"

"It's because you're the most sober, Clay," Emma explained, watching as the rest of Bravo crowded around the couch. They might not acknowledge it, but Clay was the least likely to drink any beer when they were all together, making him the perfect DD. And in this case, the perfect person to help put her hip in place.

"Alright Em, deep breath in, then push in. When I say, let the breath out and I'll pop it back into place. Clay, wanna hold her hand? Not going to be the most comfortable thing in the world."

Clay nodded, taking her hand, squeezing gently. Emma had a high pain tolerance, that much he knew, but to walk around with a dislocation, no matter how slight, took balls. "Squeeze as tight as you want, ok Em?"

Emma nodded, her eyes softening when she looked up at him. "I'm good, Jamie."

It took a few tries and several tears, but all of the men sighed in relief when they heard the familiar pop of the joint being set. While Emma was breathing through the pain, James took a peek at the toenail that was sluggishly bleeding. It was bruised, and would most likely come off at some point, just not right now. "Em, the nail's gonna come off, but I don't think you tore it, just bruised it pretty good."

"Thanks Jamie," Emma said, sitting up on the couch, pulling her knees to her chest.

"Always Emma Kate, makes me wonder who's gonna be putting you back together when I deploy?" James teased. How this girl had survived without her own personal medic was a miracle, the amount of scrapes she managed to get herself into on a daily basis was impressive.

"That responsibility falls to ol' Trent over there, buddy," Sonny interrupts. "Gents, now that Sunshine is fixed up, let's go back to our game, I'm one hand away from winning Ray Perry's pride." Sonny cackled, leading the rest of his brothers back to the kitchen table. Clay hangs back, not really wanting to leave her if she's still in pain.

"I'm fine, Clay. Go, I'll still be up by the time you leave," Emma said, kissing him gently. While she would love to spend the rest of her evening with her boyfriend, he needed time with his brothers too, away from the guns and the fighting and the stress of the job.

Turning to Hannah, Emma twisted on the couch to take the garment bag from her, a pit forming in the bottom of her stomach. "Oh hell no, Hannah what the fuck is this?" Emma pulls out the costume, if it could really be called a costume. It was a short black halter style dress with a slit up the side, sparkly and not much fabric

"Your showcase costume," Hannah said trying to stifle her giggles. She knew that this wasn't going to go over well when she saw the costume come out of the box… Emma was just going to have to deal with it.

"No, this isn't a costume. It looks like underwear," Emma says, blood draining from her face. She was going to have to sing and dance, on stage, wearing underwear, in front of everyone. In front of her father. In front of Clay. Oh fuck no.

"Just try it on Em, the showcase is next week and if we have to take it in, I'd rather know about it now."

Emma bites at her lip, grabbing the costume, stalking to the downstairs bathroom. While the dress, if you could call it that, was comfortable and fit her nicely, she looked like a stripper. A bonafide stripper complete with the fishnets and all. "Hannah, I'm not wearing this, you could give me some glitter, call me Chastity Rose, and I could work down the street." Emma opened the door, realizing a split second too late that Hannah had her phone out, and was recording.

"Hannah, who did you send that to?" Emma panics, breathing fast.

"Just Jamie," she said giggling. Emma looked hot, and Jamie would get a kick out of Emma being shy, she normally didn't care what other people thought of her when she was performing, because it wasn't really Emma on stage.

"Jamie!?" Emma whispered yelled, hoping not to draw the attention of the boys to her and Hannah. "Dad's gonna kill him if he opens that, Clay is going to kill him"

There was a beat of silence before Emma grabbed a sweatshirt from the laundry bin in the bathroom and rushed into the living, diving for James' phone.

"Em, what's the matter?" Clay says, he's never seen his girlfriend act like this before, she's normally pretty calm, cool, and collected. About everything.

Emma ignores him, focusing on Jamie. "I need your phone."

Jamie holds it in his hands, finally seeing the notification on his phone. "Why?" he asks slowly, unsure of where this was going.

"Hannah, in all of her infinite wisdom, decided to take a snapchat of me in the showcase costume" Emma said, trying to take a deep breath. "Which I am not wearing, by the way," she shot over her shoulder towards Hannah.

"Ok, so why is this bad?" Jamie still didn't understand, she had pictures in her costumes all the time. Hell, James had personally taken quite a few of them when he had gone with Hannah to watch her perform.

"Because this costume has me half naked and looking like a stripper, give me your phone Jamie."

There was absolute silence from the room, as James' eyes went wide before practically throwing the phone at her, not wanting to see the snapchat she was talking about.

"Emma is exaggerating, she is not half naked." Hannah said to Jamie, reassuring the men in the room, laughing when they settled down again.

"Wait, Hannah took a snapchat of the costume, and you came charging in here two seconds later. Where's the costume?" Ray wondered. Emma was wearing a sweatshirt that came down past her butt, barely.

"Under the sweatshirt, Uncle Ray. I'm not wearing this on stage." Emma said firmly, glaring at Hannah, who was laughing silently, tears streaming down her face. "Hannah you just wait, I'm gonna get you back for this," Emma threatened darkly. She really had no say in what costume she wore, it was Hannah's senior project after all.

"Aren't you doing the Chicago number?" Jamie said, putting the pieces together from the stories that he heard from Hannah and the description of the costume.

"Yes, and I don't want to talk about it. This wasn't my choice, at all. And I'm not happy about it," Emma gave the phone back to Jamie, stalking back into the kitchen, changing from the costume back into her pajamas. It had been too long of a day and she couldn't even have any wine, it was definitely time for bed.

The boys all look at each other, shrug and go back to their game, surely Emma was exaggerating. She couldn't really be half naked on stage, they reassured themselves, there was no way.

The next week, six men jogged down the halls of the empty high school, trying to make it to the theater before the doors shut and performance began. They were sweaty and dirty, but they had made it back home before the showcase, they would consider that a win. Settling down in their seats at the back of the house, the men barely had time to glance at the program before the curtain opened, with Emma standing center stage, in a dress that was likely illegal in all fifty states.

Sonny rummaged in his shirt pocket, hoping he had stashed a toothpick in there at some point. Finding one, he slots it between his teeth, chomping down erratically. Why did he choose to come tonight? He moaned internally. He definitely did not need to see his sunshine dressed like that, and holy hell moving her hips like that. Oh Lord.

Ray squeaked in surprise, covering his eyes with his hands. The dress she was wearing wasn't much longer than the sweatshirt she wore the last time that they had seen her, only this was much more form fitting and, was that a slit at the back? At least she wearing tights, those had to cover something right?

Trent coughs, sputtering slightly. Turns out Emma really wasn't kidding when she said that she was half naked. Watching her dance, you would never be able to tell that she had hip problems, but knowing Emma as well as he did, she was in pain and just wasn't showing it while she was performing. Closing his eyes, Trent listened to Emma sing, happy that at least he could enjoy one part of her performance without feelings like a complete pervert. That was his niece after all.

From the moment the curtain opened and Brock saw Emma, his face was buried deep in the program hoping that it would take him the entire length of her performance to read cover to cover, hoping that when he was finished that Emma would have more clothing on. Glancing up, Brock ducked his head back down again. Nope, still not done yet. Scanning the page again, Brock noted that Emma was performing again later in the program, hopefully that would be a more appropriate number for them to all watch.

Jason looks over at Clay, Clay looks at Jason, immediately looking anywhere but Jason's face. Jason didn't know where to look, he couldn't look at the stage where his daughter was prancing around half naked but he couldn't look at Clay and see any emotion on his face. He didn't want to look over at Trent, sitting next to him, and looking over at Naima would only lead to more judgement. Sighing, Jason focused his gaze up at the ceiling, counting the tiles, praying that Emma would be done dancing soon.

Clay, on the other hand, couldn't look away, entranced by the movement on the stage. He knew that his girl was sexy beyond belief, but watching her up there, moving sensuously to the beat of the music was intoxicating. Just as she was being lifted in the air, Clay took a shuddering breath. He needed to control himself, it would not do well if Jason looked over at him and he was drooling over his daughter, no matter how attractive she was in that little black dress. Control, he repeated to himself , shifting in his seat. Maybe he could convince her to keep the dress later, and dance for him at home. But first, he needed some control.

The song finishes with Emma belting out the last note and the boys sigh in relief when the curtains close. Glancing at each other, the boys open their eyes and nod at each other, all uncomfortable watching Emma dance but wanting to support her. Hopefully the rest of the night would be more tame.

Just before the showcase ended the curtains opened again and Emma came out, this time in tight jeans and a purple blouse, hair free from the tight updo it was in previously, looking much more like herself. Standing next to the piano, the boys watched her relax into the music, eyes softening and shoulders relaxing, this was much more her style.

"Thank goodness, I can watch this one," Sonny said with a grin, leaning back in his seat to listen to his sunshine sing, goosebumps rising on his skin when her voice soared.

Clay sat back and watched Emma sing, laughing at some of the lyrics. Sonny always associated her with sunshine for her bright smile and bubbly personality, but Clay thought of her as the moon; constant, brilliant, ever changing. When she got to the end of the song, Clay got choked up, hearing her sing in her raspy sweet voice "He knows just what it does, when he's holding me tight, and he calls me moonlight too." Emma loved being Sonny's sunshine, but at the same time wanted to be her own person to Clay.

The audience was quiet for a moment before the cheers and clapping began, Emma still on stage looking uncomfortable at all of the applause. When the curtain closed for the last time and the lights flickered on, the boys filed out hesitantly, waiting for Emma by the stage door, only to be met by Hannah, looking frantic.

"I have never been so glad to see your face, can you go in to see Emma? She's upset," Hannah said, worrying the end of her hair with her fingertips.

Clay looked over to the boys, unsure of whether or not they wanted to see Emma. Jason answered his unspoken question, "Go, we'll see her tomorrow, let me know where you guys are headed."

Nodding, Clay jogged to the door that Hannah had just walked through, knocking before pushing the door open gently. Emma sat down at a table with a small mirror, head pressed into her hands.

"Emmie K?" Clay asked, sitting down in the chair next to her, putting his hand on the small of her back gently. "You ok?"

"No," Emma whispered, not even bothering to hide her distress.

"Want to tell me what's wrong? You were really good up there," Clay said, prodding.

"I don't know what's wrong with me," Emma said, face red. "I love singing, I love performing, I love being able to make people happy with my voice… But I don't like the way this made feel."

"How did it make you feel?" Clay longed to pull her into his arms and comfort her, but it would do nothing but put a bandaid over the wound, not fix the problem.

"Empty, I felt nothing Clay. How could I have something that used to give me so much joy, mean literally nothing to me. The only time I felt even a remote connection was when I sang 'Moonlight', but that was because I was thinking of you," Emma ranted, voice getting louder until she was shouting in frustration.

"I don't know how to make this better, Em. All I can do is support you. If you never want to sing again, that's fine with me babe. If you only want to sing in the shower and in the car, I'll gladly sing with you. This is your choice," Clay rubbed his hand up and down her back. Watching her stress out for the last week over this showcase was hard, and made even harder by the fact that he was several thousand miles away from her.

"You mean that?" Emma said, searching his face intently. For so long singing had been a part of the perfect girl image that she portrayed. She was the girl with a dad in the navy that sang and danced, it was a part of her identity that didn't quite seem to fit anymore.

"Em, whatever is going to make you happy, I'm going to support. Even if it is watching you dance in a tiny dress on stage sitting next to your father," he joked, nudging her with his elbow, hoping to make her smile at least a little bit.

Emma snorted, "I'm sure you liked that part best of all." Her eyes twinkled looking at Clay blushing next to her. "The best part of tonight is that I got to keep the dress." She winked, standing and groaning when her hip twinged.

"That is definitely a plus here babe," Clay nodded solemnly, lip twitching with a barely concealed smile. "Let's go back to your place, I'm sure the boys are all waiting for us, I wish you could have seen their faces when you came out on stage for the first time. I thought Sonny was going to have a stroke," Clay laughed, swinging his arm around her shoulders, carrying most of her weight against his body.

Clay didn't need a perfect girlfriend, because he wasn't perfect himself. He had parts of him that were ugly and rough around the edges. Parts that he didn't always want people to see, but Emma didn't care about that. She wanted him just the way he was, no excuses or changes needed. At the end of the day, Clay didn't need a girl with the voice of an angel or someone that always agreed with him, even if he was being an ass. He needed Emma, constant, brilliant, and ever changing. If he had her, life was good. Life was perfect.


	14. Chapter 14

Strolling down the aisles in the supermarket, Emma smirked at the half price turkey and pilgrim decorations. Thanksgiving had come and passed with the boys called away to some foreign country. As usual, the holiday was rescheduled for the next week when everyone could be together and Emma happened to like this tradition better than celebrating the actual holiday. It meant that Clay had come home to her once again, whole, healthy, in one piece. She was more grateful for that with every mission that he went on and every deployment that he returned back to her, and she hoped that she would never stop feeling grateful to have him in her life.

Checking her list, she marked off the items that she had already found: turkey for her father, green bean casserole for Brock, sweet potatoes for Ray with regular potatoes for Trent. Sonny would get one of her famous pecan pies later at the house, but that left Clay. Turning behind her, Emma opened her mouth and shut it quickly, not wanting to startle Clay and RJ as her heart melted into a puddle of goo on the floor. Clay was walking behind her in the store, bouncing RJ in his arms, gently stroking his back with his large hand trying to get him to fall asleep again after his nap was interrupted by an epic tantrum from Jameelah. Emma sighed, thinking of the little girl that had all of the men wrapped around her pinky finger. As she was getting older it was harder and harder to reassure her that daddy was coming home and that sometimes he had to go save other people and couldn't be there for things like Thanksgiving and dance recitals. Emma could remember dealing with the same thing when she was Jameelah's age and her heart broke for the girl, which is how she and Clay ended up on RJ duty while shopping for the annual Bravo Thanksgiving. Jameelah was getting some much needed attention from Uncle Ray and Aunt Naima

"Clay?" Emma asked striking out another thing on her list. She didn't hear him respond but felt his steady presence behind her. Taking the time to park her shopping cart, she turned around and faced him, eyes softening at the sight of RJ fast asleep

"Yeah babe," Clay said, shifting the baby in his arms. He could lift weights all he wanted but the dead weight of an infant was something he wasn't used to carrying for an extended period of time.

"Is there anything you want for Thanksgiving dinner? We're almost done here anyways," Emma scanned down the list hoping that she wasn't missing anything. She didn't want to have to come back to the store when they started cooking.

"I don't think I can have you for dinner, babe," Clay grinned impishly and moved out of the way when Emma's hand came out to hit his shoulder playfully.

"No, but if you're good, you can have me for dessert," Emma winked, walking towards the cash registers with her cart full of fixings for dinner that evening.

Standing in line, Emma and Clay playfully pushed against each other giggling and snorting, not paying any attention to the old lady standing behind them, smiling at their antics.

"Excuse me," the old lady cut in, with a soft spoken drawl.

"Yes ma'am," Clay responded, putting his hand on the small of Emma's back, other hand holding RJ close to his chest.

"I just wanted to tell you that you have a beautiful family, your baby is very handsome." The old lady's eyes twinkled in a way that reminded Emma of Aunt Betty when she was feeling mischievous, bright and happy, full of life.

Before Clay could correct the well-meaning women, Emma replied, blushing gently. "Thank you ma'am, I really do appreciate that."

"Absolutely dear, you all have a good holiday. Thank you for your service as well dear." Clay and Emma nodded, turning to their shopping cart and paying for the groceries. As the groceries are being packaged, Emma grabbed RJ from Clay's arms, swaying him gently before putting him in his car seat, still fast asleep.

As Clay put the last of the groceries into the trunk of the car, Emma settled in the passenger seat, knowing that Clay would insist on driving the short distance back to the Perry house. The trunk shut and Clay moved to the front seat, stopping to kiss Emma before turning the key in the ignition and driving out of the small parking lot.

Out of the blue, Clay says wistfully, "You'd be a great mom, Emmie K," stealing a glance at her when the light was red.

"What?" Emma said, laughing slightly.

"You're good with RJ and Jameelah, you'd make a good mom Em, that's all I'm saying," Clay babbled, nervous that he had said something too soon. They hadn't actually been dating for very long yet, but the future that she presented was clear to him. "Is that something you would want?"

"Yeah, Clay, in a few years. Not right at this moment," Emma admitted, picturing a little girl with curly blonde hair and green eyes running around her backyard with all of her uncles watching as she played with Cerberus. It was certainly a future that she longed for, the timing just wasn't right.

"Babe, I definitely don't think that we're ready for that right now, it was just a thought," Clay said, rubbing his thumb across the soft skin of her hand.

"I know, Clay." Emma said gently. "I just have a lot I want to do before we start having kids, and there's a lot of steps we need to take before we hit that point."

"Emma, I would marry you tomorrow if I thought we could. You're it for me, honey. You know that."

"I don't know what I did to be so lucky to have you in my life, Clay Spenser." Emma kissed his cheek before turning to look at RJ, still fast asleep in his car seat. Before long they were in the driveway where the entire crew was waiting to unload the groceries from the trunk. Emma went around to the backseat and tried to extract RJ without waking him, but as soon as she picked him up, his little eyes opened, fixating on Naima. His mouth opened and a small whimper escaped, but before it could turn into a full blown tantrum, Emma handed RJ to Naima and took Jameelah by the hand leading her back into the kitchen. "Hey Jameelah, want to help me bake?"

While the girls were mixing up the fixings for Emma's famous pecan pie, Naima, Victoria, and Lisa fixed the rest of the meal. The hours passed with giggles and snorts of laughter, lots of wine, and plenty of reasons to be grateful. Sitting down to dinner, Emma watched ruefully as Naima drank more and more wine and the conversation turned raunchier and raunchier.

Emma was grinning and sneaking sips of wine from Naima's glass when she wasn't looking, but she drew the line when they started talking about their sex lives. There was only so much that she could handle for one evening. When Naima drunkenly exclaimed that Ray should be grateful to have her because she was better than his hand, she made her excuses and walked over to the small table where Jameelah and Mikey were eating.

"Hey Jameelah, mind if I sit here?" Emma asked, pulling out the chair next to her.

"Yeah! I was telling Mikey what I was grateful for this year! What are you grateful for? Mommy said that we needed to be thankful every day but especially today Emmie," Jameelah never seemed to run out of energy or things to say and today was no different, especially hopped up on every kind of sugar imaginable.

"Well, I'm thankful for you and for Clay and for my family. I'm thankful that I have Mikey and my dad home this year," Emma paused as she watched Jameelah wrinkle up her nose. "What?"

"You're thankful that you have a brother? I have one, he's no fun," Jameelah pouted, crossing her arms over her chest. She still wasn't pleased that RJ was taking over most of the time that she had with mommy and daddy just because he was a baby. It wasn't fair.

"Yeah, I am honey. Without Mikey I would be all alone when my daddy goes away, you wouldn't like that would you?" Emma prompted, hoping that she could sway the little girl to a new perspective.

"No," Jameelah said slowly. "I just don't like that I don't get as much time to spend with mommy."

"Think of it this way honey, if I didn't have Mikey, or you didn't have RJ, we would be awfully lonely. Mommy and daddy love you very much, and I'm sure that they're going to be spending some time with you this week now that daddy's home." Emma explained gently, smoothing back a piece of hair from her forehead. Catching Uncle Ray's eyes, she smiled when he mouthed 'thank you' while trying to keep Aunt Naima upright.

"Jameelah, why don't you go put your pajamas and we can watch a movie, I think it's almost bedtime," Emma said, collecting the plates and dishes from around the table. Standing by the sink, she washed and handed the wet dishes for Aunt Lisa to dry, taking in the sight of the kitchen table, not wanting to forget a single second. Jason sitting next to Clay, undoubtedly talking about hockey. Trent and Brock competing to see who could eat their turkey leg the fastest. Sonny grabbing his second slice of pecan pie. Ray gazing at Aunt Naima was love clearly written on his face.

There were times when Emma wondered if Clay looked at her the way that Ray looked at Naima. It was clear to anyone that was watching the two of them that they shared a love that was a forever kind of love. Emma watched as Uncle Ray switched Aunt Naima's glass when she wasn't looking, she had clearly had enough wine for the night. As the dishes were cleared and coffee was made, slowly everyone made their way to the couch to watch a movie, food coma settling in on all of the members of Bravo, Cerberus included.

As Emma put away that last of the dishes and Aunt Darcy, Aunt Lisa, and Aunt Betty sat around the table to gossip, she scanned the large living room for the younger members of the team. Mikey was pressed firmly against her father's side, watching the tv with rapt attention. Christmas movies always made him a little nostalgic and A Miracle of 42nd Street was no exception. Jameelah was sitting on her father's lap, lip pouted as his hand rubbed her back, trying to get her to relax enough to fall asleep. And RJ was lying on Clay's chest, clearly fighting sleep as his big brown eyes blinked shut and opened rapidly.

"Uncle Ray, you want me to put them down for the night?" Emma whispered, bending down over the couch to speak directly into his ear. When he nodded appreciatively, she nudged Jameelah off of his lap and sent her up the stairs to get cleaned up for bed before going to RJ and nuzzling him to her chest, chuckling at the shocked noise that came from Clay's chest. Jerking her head, Emma began to walk up the stairs, hoping that Clay would follow her, it would be a miracle if she would get both kids down and still have time to watch the movie.

Walking back and forth, Emma hummed gently while rubbing his back. The little boy was fighting sleep and Emma didn't want to put him in his crib until she was sure that he was asleep for good. Aunt Naima was definitely down for the night and Uncle Ray was just coming off of a mission, they deserved a good night's sleep.

Finally, finally when RJ's breathing evened out and his eyes stayed shut, Emma placed him in his crib and placed his stuffed bear in arm's reach. Emma tiptoed out of his bedroom and glanced at her phone, it had only taken fifteen minutes to get RJ to fall asleep, now the challenge was going to be Jameelah. From the hallway, she could see into her room and hear voices coming from inside the bedroom, but couldn't quite make out who was talking to Jameelah. Stopping just before the doorway, she smiled. She knew that voice, it was Clay. Peering around the door, she watched as Clay finished the last few pages of the book that he was reading to Jameelah, using fake voices and silly expressions. The man was far better with children than he gave himself credit for, and it made her heart ache for the children that they would one day have. She wished that she was ready to settle down and have children of her own, but for the moment she would settle for watching Clay with Jameelah and RJ, they were pretty cute kids after all.

Clay closed the book and turned off the light, kissing her forehead gently. Walking to the doorway, he shut the light and ran smack into Emma. "I didn't know you were here," He said softly as he closed the door, not wanting to wake either child when they had just spent the better part of a half hour getting them to go to sleep.

"I know, I wanted to watch. You're gonna make such a good dad one day, Clay," Emma said, putting her hands on his chest. "You're so incredibly good with them."

"You think so?" Clay wasn't normally insecure, he exuded confidence in every aspect of his life from his relationship with Emma to his career in the Navy. If he wasn't confident, the consequence would be disastrous, but when it came to children, Clay was more unsure than Sonny in a shopping mall. "I didn't have the best example, Em."

"No," she agreed. That was the understatement of the century, Ash Spenser shouldn't even be considered a man at this point. "But he did teach you some lessons, he taught you what not to do. Even if he was an asshole and was horrific to you, you're a better man than he will ever be because you would never think of hurting a child.

At a loss for words, Clay leaned down and kissed Emma softly, trading small kisses back and forth in the middle of the hallway. The girl in his arms was incredible, loving and good. He didn't know what he did to deserve her, but he was grateful that she was in his life. "Thank you, Emmie K."

"Of course babe." Emma didn't hesitate to reassure Clay. She had seen how he acted around the kids and even around Mikey. She just wished that he could see himself the way that she saw him.

Hand in hand, the pair walked back into the den, unsurprised to see the entirety of Bravo knocked out on the couches that surrounded the TV. Somehow they always managed to end up in this position, but Emma didn't mind. It was comforting to know that her family was together under one roof, all safe and sound. Snagging the last blanket stacked on the table, Emma spied an empty armchair. Curling up next to Clay, Emma felt his hand trace mindless patterns on her leg, watching the movie play silently on the screen.

"Hey Em," Clay spoke softly, not wanting anyone to overhear what he was going to say to Emma.

"Yeah babe," Emma said sleepily. She was safe, warm, and in the arms of the man that loved her, nothing in the world was better than this.

"You're what I'm most grateful for; today and every day." Clay wasn't expecting a response, knowing that his girl was tired and halfway to dreamland, but her soft voice responded and his heart melted.

"Ditto babe, ditto."

Clay felt her breathing evening out and just before he closed his own eyes, Clay looked around the room, trying to burn the image in his brain. If life could stay just the way it was in this moment, brothers surrounding him, children safe, Emma in his arms, Clay would be grateful for every day of his life.


	15. Chapter 15

Emma groaned in frustration, the loud cackling laugh of Sonny Quinn float up the stairs from the living room. The fact that she could hear it through her closed door a flight above his head meant that he was either really drunk or that Clay had made a fool out of himself in poker once again. Her boyfriend was good at many things; he could speak multiple languages, hit a target from thousands of feet away, and could make the best peanut butter and banana sandwiches that Emma had ever tasted. But a gambler he was not. Clay could never figure out how to hide his emotions on his face and her uncles used that to their advantage. Of course the games were never more than a hundred bucks collectively, and the money was used for the next beer run, but it was the fact that they could finally get something over Clay Spenser's head that they enjoyed.

Refocusing on her textbook, Emma squinted down at the different types of epithelial cells and muscle cells throughout the body. After the last hour of studying microscopic anatomy, her head felt like it was going to explode. The AP exam was tomorrow morning and when she received confirmation that if she passed with a four or five that she wouldn't have to repeat the course in college, she was determined to make sure that it was one less thing on her plate for her first semester. Reading over the countless pages of coursework, Emma was already overwhelmed at all of the classes that she had to take in order to finish in three years instead of four. Her first semester alone was twenty credits, and that was without all of the labs that she was required to take. When her phone pinged, Emma grabbed it from the edge of the table, squinting at the bright light of the cell phone, even with the brightness turned down completely. Clay had been texting her updates every so often from his game downstairs, making Emma feel slightly guilty that she wasn't able to spend much time with him, even though he understood where she was coming from, sometimes school had to come first, just like the OPs he went on for his job.

"How are you feeling Em? Any better?"

Rubbing her temple, Emma debated how she wanted to answer. She wasn't feeling better, she was feeling worse. The jackhammer that was pounding in her skull made it hard to read, hard to focus, hard to do anything besides close her eyes. "I'm not really feeling much better Clay, can't kick the headache. How's the game going?"

The next message came in before she could even put her phone down long enough to read another sentence. "It's going fine, I'm losing. But at least I still have my pride, Sonny is losing worse than I am."

"Any idea of when you guys are going to finish the game?" It wasn't that late, but the sooner her house was quiet, the sooner she could finish. Maybe she could convince Clay to stay behind and sit with her while she studied, some kisses wouldn't go amiss right now.

"Not too much longer, Sonny and Ray are pretty trashed right now. Trent and I are sober, but your dad has been hitting the beer pretty hard. After this hand, I'll come up for a few minutes. I'm almost out anyways"

Sending a kissing face emoji, Emma leaned over her desk. Clay would wake her when he came in, it would only be for a few minutes. Just to rest her eyes.

Scowling at his homework, Mikey ran his fingers through his short brown hair, cursing the fact that Algebra existed. When math started including letters, Mikey lost all sense of what was correct and the numbers and letters jumbled together on the page. Emma was always better at math and science that Mikey was, but getting her to sit still long enough to help him with his homework was always a struggle, even though all he had to do was ask. Standing in front of her door, Mikey raised his hand hesitantly. Emma had an exam the next morning and was stressed about it all week long, enough that she asked Aunt Naima and Aunt Darcy to come and cook for the week in addition to shuttling him where he needed to go after school. Maybe this wasn't a good idea. Taking a deep breath, Mikey knocked on the door, opening it gently. The lights were off and there was only the soft glow of the lamp on the desk. Emma was bent over her desk, but she wasn't moving. Maybe she fell asleep on her notes again. Mikey had to remind her several times already that sleeping was meant to be done in a bed not a chair, but rarely this early. Tiptoeing further into the room, Mikey called out tentatively, "Emmie?"

"Yeah Mikey man, what's up?" Emma looked horrible, eyes bloodshot and face pale. She looks like one of those old school vampires from the old horror movie that Ben Porter tried to get him to watch the last time he had stayed over their house.

"Emma, you, are you ok?" Mikey was flabbergasted. Even at her most tired and worn down, Emma still had a little spark in her eyes and a ready smile on her face. This didn't look like his sister at all.

"Yeah Mikey, I just have a headache. Too many hours of staring at tiny objects," Emma tried to force her cheeks to lift in a smile, but all she wanted to do was curl up in bed and sleep. Sleep sounded so, so good at the moment.

"Are you sure Em?" Mikey didn't want to overstep, but if dad saw her, hell if Uncle Trent saw her, she would have an IV bag in her arm and be on her way to the hospital faster than she could say 'I'm fine'. He should go get Trent, but what if he was busy? Poker nights were meant for no distractions, did this count as an emergency?

Emma nodded gently, not wanting to bang her head around. "What's up Mikey, you need something?" The faster she knew what Mikey needed the faster she could get to studying.

"Can you help me figure out this problem? I don't get what it's asking me." Mikey thrust the worksheet at her anxiously, he had one more problem left before he could go and play Call of Duty. "Number nine."

Scanning the page, Emma looked over the instructions and then at the problem, mentally following his work until she found the mistake. "Mikey, you didn't factor right. If you factor this way you can solve for X." Emma corrected his work on a separate sheet of paper and handed it to him, laughing slightly at the way his eyes widened when he realized his mistake.

"You're a lifesaver Em, thanks," Mikey said, shifting on his feet, not wanting to leave when Emma really didn't look good. "Emma Kate," He waited while she glared at him weakly, lacking the usual bite when he called her by her full name. "Are you sure you're ok?"

"I'm sure Mikey, if it makes you feel better when the boys are done with their game, I'll have Uncle Trent come up and take a look at me. I'm sure it's just a headache, Mikey. Nothing to worry about." Emma attempted to smile reassuringly, but she was sure that it came out more like a grimace than a grin. When Mikey shut the door behind her she laid her head back down on the desk as hot tears burned in the corner of her eyes. She didn't think that she knew nearly enough for this exam and at this point, there wasn't enough time to cram it all in her brain. It was hopeless. Shutting her book, Emma stood up and wanted to cry when she suddenly got dizzy. Headaches apparently came with dizziness and nausea now, Emma was not a fan. Sitting on her floor, Emma reached for the trash can under the desk, grateful that it was at least in arms reach. Breathing in through her nose and out through her mouth, Emma prayed that she wasn't going to be sick and closed her eyes, hoping that it would stop the spinning of the room around her.

Trent stared at his cards, laughing at the hand he was dealt. He had absolutely nothing that would help him win the round, but neither did Clay and he would bet that Sonny didn't have anything either, judging from the scowl that was etched across his face. Trent raised his bet and waited for the inevitable, Sonny would clean out his wallet, Clay and Jason would fold, and Ray would raise the bet higher. Like clockwork, Trent watched his brothers follow their predictable patterns. They would never admit it, but they were creatures of habit, every last one of them. In the field it was Trent's responsibility to learn all of these patterns, but to never share them. With the addition of the kid on the team, Trent had to learn a whole new set of patterns, most of which were ass backwards. When the books said that a reaction was one way, Clay Spenser reacted the opposite way, but bigger. Just as Jason was twitching his hand to place his cards over, his phone rang, a loud foghorn sound that provoked many giggles and snorts from the men around him.

"I guess the little lady couldn't leave her man alone for the evening," Sonny cackled. All of the phones were placed in the middle of the table, right next to the stack of bills. Typically, poker nights involved little female interaction and no cell phone use. Clay broke this every week when he took his phone from the stack, but he didn't mind buying the next case of beer for breaking first. He always claimed that Emma wouldn't text him if it wasn't important when she knew that they were playing poker. Tonight the kid was oddly quiet, and didn't offer an explanation as to why he was on his phone. That was weird. What was weirder was that ringtone was only assigned to one person, Mikey Hayes. Why was he texting him when he could just come down and ask him any questions he had? He had never hesitated before.

"For your information, Sonny. That would be Mikey texting me." Trent said snobbishly. Sometimes Sonny needed to be put back into his place when he got smug.

"Mikey?" Jason said, sliding his cards in the middle.

"Yeah," Trent murmured distractedly, opening the text message.

Shit. The kid called him Unky, yet another pattern that Trent Sawyer had observed over the years. That nickname only slipped out when he was worried or scared, particularly about his sister. "Clay, is Emma upstairs?"

"Yeah, she's studying for her AP exam, why?"

Trent didn't answer, tapping his thumbs on the screen rapidly. Mikey wasn't answering the messages but he heard footsteps above his head and then the soft padding of feet on the stairs. Too light to be Emma's, so Mikey was coming down to grab him. Glancing at the staircase, Trent opened his mouth to call out to Mikey, but the boy turned the corner to go into the kitchen, not saying a word. Huh. Maybe it was girl problems. Furrowing his brow, Trent glanced around the room at the confused faces of his brothers, glad to see that he wasn't the only one that was in the dark. Trent turned to Clay, suspicious of the pinched brows and the rhythmic tapping of his fingers on the table. Why was he so anxious? "Is everything alright with Emma?"

"Last time she texted me, she had a headache and wasn't getting much done, she told me that it was nothing," Clay said slowly, a pit forming in the bottom of his stomach. Rising from his seat, he threw the last remaining bills in the center and went to go up to Emma, nodding at Trent as he passed. If things were bad, Clay wouldn't hesitate to call out for the medic. They all learned their lesson from the last time she was sick.

"Ok, Mikey needs me for something, I'm going to check on him. I don't know what's happening right now, but if we crowd them it's going to overwhelm them. Boss, you want to go up to Emma as well? Ray and Sonny, stay here. We might need you to call for Lisa and Eric." Without realizing it, Trent had slipped right into his own patterns, taking charge and going into complete-the-mission mode. There were things to be done, this was his show now.

Walking out of Emma's room, Mikey paced back and forth in his bedroom. Emma looked bad, real bad. Bad enough that he wanted to go charging down the stairs and drag Uncle Trent up, poker night be damned. Pulling out his phone, Mikey decided on a text. If he was busy playing, he wouldn't get an answer. If he wasn't busy, he would answer and tell Mikey what to do. And if he didn't answer in fifteen minutes, he would go back to Emma's room and sit with her until they were done. With a plan in place, Mikey felt a little bit better. Now all he had to do was figure out how to say I-need-you-up-here without inciting a mass panic downstairs.

"Unky, you busy?" Whenever Mikey was doubtful he reverted back to the nickname that he gave Uncle Trent as a toddler, a habit that he couldn't help slip back into when it came to anything remotely medical. Blood and guts freaked Mikey out, so if Uncle Trent could deal with it, everyone would be better off. Mikey went into the bathroom that separated his and Emma's room and opened both of the doors, this way he would at least hear if Emma started to get sick or needed something. Watching the time, Mikey was surprised when his phone buzzed in less than two minutes later. Opening the message, Mikey laughed at the progression of the texts and the gray dots that showed that he was still typing.

"I'm never too busy for you, Mikey"

"What's wrong? Is everything ok upstairs?"

"Are you feeling ok?"

"You need me to come up?"

Shaking his head, Mikey slipped his phone in his pocket and padded down the stairs and into the kitchen, bypassing the living room where the rest of his uncles were playing their final hand of poker for the night. Chances are he would find Uncle Trent on his way back upstairs anyways. Looking in the fridge, Mikey spotted the last apple in the drawer. It was slightly bruised, but it would be the thought that counted right? Mom always gave Emma apples when she wasn't feeling good, and that stinky tea that she liked so much. Concentrating on cutting the apple into slices, Mikey was startled when he heard footsteps behind him, dropping the knife to the floor with a loud bang.

"Uncle Trent! You scared me!" Mikey said, holding the plate steady on the counter. Thankfully none of the slices had come off the plate, but when he looked at them again, they were lopsided, hacked into tiny pieces surrounded by a glob of peanut butter.

"Sorry Mikey, just a little worried," Trent said, stooping to pick up the knife on the floor. Standing in the kitchen with Mikey, Trent watched as he made himself busy, never stopping to look him in the eyes. Trent drew the line when he tried to boil water in a pot for tea instead of using the kettle that was on the stovetop. Filling the kettle, Trent cautiously prodded Mikey, "What's going on bud?"

"I'm trying to do something for Emma, she doesn't feel well and she looks horrible, and I don't know what to do because she's not sick, she's just off," Mikey said, pouring the hot water into Emma's favorite mug, a bright blue, chipped thing with a mermaid on the front. Wrinkling his nose, Mikey added the honey, hoping it would taste better than it smelled.

"I can come up with you and take a look? I sent Clay and your dad up already, but if she really looks bad they're probably gonna come get me." Trent waited for Mikey to process. The kid couldn't be rushed to make a decision, it would make him panic.

"Let's go anyways, knowing Emma she's trying to convince them that she's fine anyway." Mikey rolled his eyes, shoulders relaxing down from his ears. Uncle Trent would make sure that she was ok, he always did.

"I don't have my kit with me, but if I need it, can I send you with Uncle Clay to go get it for me? You remember where I keep mine, right?" Trent followed Mikey towards Emma's room and stopped short. The lights were off, Emma was on the floor with Clay and Jason crouched beside her, and the boys were speaking in softer voices than normal. Trent reached out to find the light switch on the wall, when Clay sprung up.

"Not a good idea, Trent," he whispered, keeping his movements small.

Nodding, Trent scanned the room. Jason was brushing Emma's hair back from her forehead, but she didn't look feverish. The wastebasket was close by, but there was no smell of vomit in the air, she hadn't been sick yet.

"Mikey, why don't you go get a washcloth?" Trent said quietly to Mikey, who was shifting his feet back and forth.

When he nodded, Trent moved closer to Emma, kneeling on the floor. "Emmie girl, what's going on here?" It was always better to ask Emma what was going on if she was able to tell them, assuming led to hurt feelings, they had learned that lesson many times over.

"I told them, I have a headache. It's making me feel like shit Uncle Trent. Nothing's touching the pain and I can't focus anymore," Emma moaned pitifully, opening her eyes blearily.

Trent nodded, reaching his hand over to brush against her forehead. Her pupils were dilated and she was sweating slightly. "You get sick? Light and noise are bothering you?"

Emma just nodded, closing her eyes. Sniffling slightly, she tried to fight back the tears that were welling in her eyes. Pain was one thing, she could handle a lot of things, but right now was not the best time to be getting sick.

"I got one!" Mikey panted, bumbling into the room. "Emmie K, I got you the tea that you like, and some apples"

"Thanks Mikey man, wanna bring me the mug?" Emma smiled weakly at Mikey, hoping that she was starting to look a little bit better than before. She must have worried him enough that he went to get Trent sooner than the game was finished. Taking the mug with shaking hands, Emma sipped slowly, wincing at the temperature of the water.

"Em, gonna shine a light in your eyes. It's not going to be the most comfortable thing in the world. You ready?" Trent waited for Emma to nod before flipping the flashlight on his phone. As he expected Emma jerked when the light crossed her eyes, and if it was possible, turned a shade paler than before.

"You hit your head recently? Take any new meds?" Trent was fairly certain that she had a migraine, but from the various shit that Spenser had gotten into, you could never be too careful.

"No, I haven't even taken advil, nothing." Emma rested her head back against her mattress, willing the cold cloth to make her headache go away.

"Alright, Em, why don't you lie down for a little bit. I'm gonna go see if I have anything that might make your headache go away." Standing up, he jerked his head at Jason and Clay, instructing them to follow him out in the hallway. Ruffling Mikey's hair as he went, he nudged Mikey out the door and into his room. "We've got it from here bud, alright?

Mikey nodded and shut the door to his bedroom. Trent had it, there was no reason to worry.

Trent sighed, putting his hands in his back pocket. He didn't have his kit, and the only other sober person that could drive needed to stay here so that Emma would stay calm. OK, think Sawyer, what can you do here. "Here's what we're going to do boys, Clay I want you to stay with Emma, see if you can get her to fall asleep. Jason, corral the two downstairs. See if Naima can come pick them up, the last thing she needs is them being drunk and loud right now. I'm gonna dig around, see if I can find some meds."

Nodding to the two men, Trent strode down the stairs to the med kit that he knew Jason had under his sink. Two months after Clay joined Bravo, Jason had sat down with Trent and made a list of all the things that were necessary in a med kit and the things that Clay might need. It was a hefty list but Trent knew that Jason would follow it diligently and keep it well stocked. Faintly he heard Naima's car pull into the driveway and the snorts of the two drunkies in the living room, but his sour mood lifted when he found a bottle of Excedrin. Perfect. He looked at Jason on the couch and shook the bottle at him, grinning. He could fix this.

Trent made his way to Emma's room, cursing the fact that he seemed to be climbing more stairs tonight then he did at the gym for leg day. Stopping in front of Emma's door, Trent watched him holding Emma, lying in bed with her fully clothed, text book forgotten about. Clay leaned in and kissed her softly once on the lips, then again on her forehead. Knocking his hand against the door frame, Trent winced when Emma buried her head further into Clay's arms. "Em, got some meds for you to take, have you ever had Excedrin before?"

Emma sat up wearily and nodded, it was an addition to the med kit that she had provided following her last migraine. "Yeah, it'll be fine, gonna knock me for a bit though."

Trent handed her the pills and looked around for a glass of water, stunned when Emma dry swallowed them and laid back down. Smirking, he checked in with Clay. Raising a single eyebrow, Trent watched Clay closely. He looked calm, content in a way that he only saw when the kid was with Emma. Closing the door behind him, Trent went back down to the kitchen, happy that the minor crisis had been averted.

Clay laid down in Emma's soft bed and trailed his fingers gently down her back. She was curled into his chest, eyebrows wrinkled in pain. Trying to lull her back to sleep was difficult, she kept rolling over to check the clock on her nightstand.

"Babe, I set the alarm, you're not going to oversleep," Clay soothed, pulling her close.

"I'm nervous, what if I don't know enough," Emma worried her bottom lip with her teeth.

"You do babe, I know it. But you're not going to be able to take the exam if you're too tired to focus tomorrow morning."

Emma settled back against him, and relaxing into his embrace. There was rarely a time when she felt as safe as she did when Clay wrapped his arms around her. "Clay?"

"Yeah babe," Clay murmured, he was on the edge of sleep himself.

"Tell me something?" Emma loved the sound of his voice, but combined with him actually with her? It was heaven.

"You know, when I was a kid, most of the time I was in Liberia, I spent it with my grandmother, but every now and then Ash would make his way down to see me, and he usually brought some of the team guys. I was thirteen the first time that I met Adam Seaver, and it was right before I was going back to the States for college." Clay closed his eyes as he remembered a younger Adam throwing a football with him.

"Was he nice to you?" Emma was on the edge of sleep, but just as she was struggling to stay awake, she wanted to know if there was ever a time when things were good, when Clay was happy.

"Yeah," Clay said gently, remembering the easy smile and laugh that bubbled out of Adam when he was truly happy. "He was the best one. Adam was the one that encouraged me to become a SEAL in the first place. A lot of people thought that I wanted to be like Ash, but I really wanted to be like Adam," Clay admitted.

There was silence in the room and before long Clay heard the soft snores from Emma. Her brow had relaxed and she finally let go of the grip she had on his shirt. Clay chuckled and pulled the blanket tighter around them, before double checking that the alarm was set. Hopefully tomorrow would bring a new day and Emma would kick ass on the exam. It was one step closer to their future, together.


	16. Chapter 16

Waking up in her bed on a cold December morning, Emma was grateful that it was still dark. She would still have a few more hours of sleep before it was time to get up and face another day of school. Flopping over, Emma tried to close her eyes but something was scraping against the window. Sitting upright, Emma leaned over and turned on her lamp, glaring at the clock that read 5:32. It was far too early to be awake. Rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand, Emma grinned when she realized what the sound was, snow falling in thick sheets.

She would definitely have more than a few hours of sleep before she had to wake up again, school was definitely canceled. Pulling her blanket tighter around her shoulders, Emma laid back down on her pillow. She doubted that she would fall asleep for much longer, but she was content to lie still and watch the gently falling snow.

Emma didn't know when she fell asleep, but the next time she opened her eyes, the snow had stopped and there was a calm stillness to the world. The house was quiet and she could hear the faint snores from Mikey from his room. If Mikey was still asleep that meant that Jason was still asleep. Shaking out her bed head, Emma glanced down at her phone, fully expecting to see a slew of messages from Clay. But there were none.

Huh.

He must still be sleeping. It seemed like the entire world had taken the snow day as a chance to catch up on some missed sleep except for Emma.

Standing in front of the window, Emma watched the plows come by and a thought popped into her brain. If both Mikey and Jason were still asleep, she could pop out and surprise Clay, spend the day together without any watching eyes. Emma debated texting Clay and telling him that she was on her way, but if he was still asleep, she didn't want to disturb him. Besides, was it a surprise if she told him that she was on her way?

Emma was going back and forth the entire fifteen minute drive to Clay's apartment, but as she stood in front of his door, she was glad that she didn't tell him. Finding time to spend with Clay truly alone was hard, there was always one of her uncles around or they were watching Jameelah and RJ together and couldn't be themselves around the kids. It would be nice for it to just be Emma and Clay for a little while, free from any outside noise.

Tiptoeing in the apartment, Emma heard Clay's gentle breathing through the door. Definitely still asleep. Placing her bag and jacket on the table, Emma kicked off her moccasins and had her hand on the doorknob when she heard a low moan. Freezing in place, Emma felt a pit form in the bottom of her stomach. He was having a nightmare. The nightmares were common for both her and Clay, really most of their family knew what it was like to wake up in a cold sweat from an image that you can't quite shake. That didn't mean that he needed to suffer through them needlessly. Throwing the door open, Emma stood in the doorway, jaw on the floor. He was most certainly not having a nightmare.

Sometimes when you're dreaming, there are times when you know that you're dreaming, but can't bring yourself to care that the fantasy you've created in your mind was just that, a fantasy. Clay knew that there was no possible way that he could be in a nightclub in Spain with Emma, but yet, in his dream world, they were there, dancing against each other in the steamy Spanish night. "You having fun Em?"

"You know I am Clay," Emma said, grinning saucily over her shoulder. After the few drinks they had together, Emma was feeling more than a little relaxed, light and airy in a way that didn't exist back at home.

"You're driving me crazy honey," Clay said with a groan, grabbing her hips in his large hands, moving to the beat of the samba that was blaring through the speakers. "You look incredible."

"_I'm_ driving you crazy?" Emma said spinning around in Clay's arms, hips pressed tightly together. "You're the one who's hard and pressing up against me," Emma said with a moan, arms wrapped around his neck.

"And _you're_ the one not wearing a tiny dress and no bra, Emmie K," Clay grumbled low in her ear, grinding up against her. "Who's not playing fair now?"

"Hey Clay," Emma whispered, a devilish grin on her face. "I'm not wearing _anything_ under the dress," she giggled, spinning away from him and heading towards the bar. She would pay for that later but, oh, what a way to go.

Dream Emma sipped on her drink as Clay stalked over to her, taking the glass from her and setting it on the bar top so he could grab her hands. Hurrying through the throng of people still on the dance floor, they burst into one of the bathrooms, hands and lips roaming everywhere.

"Em, this thing is driving me crazy," Clay growled, crowding against her back as she faced the bathroom mirror. She was wearing a black dress that he could swear he had seen her wear before, a short sparkly thing that left very little to the imagination. The short dress paired with fuck me pumps made Clay drool all night long.

"So take it off," Emma whispered, reaching behind for the zip to the dress.

"Baby, if someone walks in here…" Clay never got to finish his thought as Emma's lips sealed themselves onto his earlobe, suckling and biting gently. The things that girl could do with her tongue were incredible and turned Clay into a quivering pile of goo every single time. Dragging his hands down to the hem of the dress, Clay inched it upwards, exposing soft smooth skin, sans any underwear.

At all.

"Emma Kate," he husked in her ear, finger dipping to tease. Quick and gentle, never enough pressure to satisfy.

"Clay, don't tease." Emma pushed back against his front, desperate for any sort of friction that she could find. He was teasing her on purpose and she was having none of it, not today.

"Baby I want you so bad, he panted, biting down on her earlobe, hips stuttering at the sound of the moans dripping out of her throat. Emma turned to face him, making eye contact before sinking to her knees.

"I want you, Clay, give it to me," Emma met his eyes in the mirror and licked her lips as she tilted her head back before kissing the head of his cock.

Clay was struck speechless and before he could move, he saw dream Emma slipping from his grasp, becoming hazy in his mind. No, no, no, he didn't want to wake up alone to a cold, empty bed. He wanted to stay in the smelly bar bathroom with Emma. As he opened his eyes, the sight of Emma in his bed made him wonder what was reality and what was a dream. She was here with him, but definitely not wearing a slinky black dress and heels. No, his girl was in a t shirt and sweats, hair in a bun and looking more beautiful than he had ever seen her. He would take this version of Em over dream Emma any day, she was the one he got to kiss. Among other things.

Clay was shirtless, arm thrown behind his head. The thin sheet that he slept with was slung low on his hips and Emma could just make out the rising bulge under the sheet. "Em, uh, more," Clay groaned, hips jerking slightly. Emma was afraid to move, not wanting to wake Clay from his dream, but all she wanted to do was strip that sheet from the bed and see what he was hiding beneath his boxers. Torn between letting him sleep and finding a good way to utilize their alone time, Emma almost walked back out the door. But with all his muscles on display, Emma was drawn like a moth to a flame, she couldn't resist. Climbing onto the bed, Emma fluttered her hands down his shoulders, settling herself on 'her' side of the bed to watch Clay sleep.

And well, dream.

As she laid there, his hips never stopped moving, thrusting up, making circles, but his hand never made his way underneath the sheet that was precariously draped around his thighs.

But when the sheet slipped as Clay's hips shifted again, Emma's throat dried up at the sight of his muscular thighs and hips, and the impressive size of his cock. The man had apparently fallen into bed the previous evening bare as the day he was born, every single muscle on display. The bulge growing beneath the sheet was rising steadily and Emma couldn't help herself, she reached out a hand and stroked his cheek, gasping when his eyes popped open.

"Emmie K?" Clay said, voice rough and gritty from sleep. Selfishly, Emma also thought that his voice sounded like he was right on the edge, but she wasn't going to tell anyone else that little tidbit of information. That was for her ears only.

"Yeah babe." Emma snuggled in closer to him, resting her head against his chest. She could hear his heartbeat thundering in his chest and the warmth of his hands on her waist made her shiver, he really was like a walking furnace.

"You're in my bed."

Emma giggled, "Uh huh."

"This isn't a dream?"

Clay still sounded adorably confused and Emma couldn't stop herself. Grabbing his face with her hands, Emma kissed him, slipping her tongue into his mouth. "Still think it's a dream?" she gasped, pulling away from Clay's sinful lips.

"If it is, I hope I don't wake up anytime soon," Clay muttered, leaning back down for another kiss. Emma felt the sheet slip between them and Clay press into her waist, hot and hard.

"Babe," Emma laughed as Clay kissed down her neck, frowning at the high neckline of her t-shirt. "What were you dreaming about?"

"Hmm?" Clay was preoccupied with running his hands underneath her shirt, fingers dipping underneath the waistband of her sweats.

Emma grabbed his hands and forced him to look at her. If he kept touching her like that, it would be over before she even got the chance to learn about his fantasy. "What were you dreaming about?" A flush rose up on Clay's cheekbones and he ducked his head bashfully. Oh this was going to be good. "Clay what do you always tell me when I wanna try something?"

"That I'm never going to find it disgusting or awful, that I want to know," Clay mumbled, trying to focus on anything but the sway of Emma's breasts lying in front of him. She either wasn't wearing a bra or the one that she was wearing didn't have nearly enough support to contain her chest, but Clay was personally hoping for the no bra option if he had a choice.

"Then don't you think I would want the same? Beside you're awfully cute when you're embarrassed," Emma said gently kissing his nose. Every time that she wanted to try something he was enthusiastic, but when she mentioned that she wanted to know what he wanted, he clammed up and refused to say a word. It was unbelievably frustrating to want to please someone and know that they have fantasies, but that they won't share them with you.

There was a beat of awkward silence before Clay gently turned Emma to face away from him, pulling her flush against him. "You wanna know what I was dreaming about Emmie K?"

Emma could only nod, words stuck in her throat. Clay was moving his hips against her butt, gasping in her ear quietly. They didn't need to be loud, this moment was just for them. "Tell me Clay," Emma moaned, pressing herself as close to him as she could.

"We were out, dancing. You were wearing a scrap of lace you called a dress," Clay bit and soothed the marks with his tongue, grinning when she moaned lightly. "We ended up in the bathroom at the bar, and you weren't wearing any underwear," Clay said, shoving her sweats down her hips, laughing at the lack of underwear on her own body.

"You mean like right now?" Emma giggled, struggling to take off her shirt while still lying against Clay. When she finally got free from her shirt, she laid back against his chest, clad in only a soft cotton bra that was quickly tugged out of the way.

"Yeah babe, like right now," Clay said sliding his hand down her stomach. "I was standing behind you and just as I was going to sink a finger inside, you knelt in front of me. But before you could put your lips on me, I woke up." His fingers started to brush gently against the soft skin, feeling the wetness pooling as his finger sank deeper.

"And you wanted that?" Emma tried to keep her focus on the fantasy, but the more he moved his fingers the less control she had over her brain.

"Yeah babe," Clay whispered, cupping her breast and rocking against her.

"Well what's stopping us?" Standing up from the bed, she dragged Clay into the small bathroom off of his bedroom. Standing at the vanity, Emma let Clay wrap his arms around her waist as they moved with each other. Panting, Emma took his hands away from her breasts and placed them low on her hips. "Clay," she moaned, bending over slightly, ass pressing more firmly against his hips.

Rutting against her a few times, Clay pulled back and let his fingers dance a trail down her spine and over the swell of her ass before his middle finger sank into Emma, drawing a loud moan from deep in her chest. "You like that Em?"

"Yeah babe." Emma could barely get the words out, eyes squeezed shut and mouth falling open. Thrusting into Emma with one hand, Clay used the other hand to tug at her nipples, grinning at her reflection in the mirror when her mouth fell open and her eyes squeezed themselves shut.

"Emmie K, you feel incredible." Clay mumbled into her neck, rasping his teeth on the soft spot behind her ear. The way she was moving against him and the tightness on her finger was dizzying.

Emma spun around in his arms, frowning at the loss of his finger, but she couldn't exactly do this facing away from Clay. Sinking to her knees, Emma looked up at Clay through her lashes. This wasn't something they had done before and Emma wasn't quite sure if she would be any good, but the minute her lips wrapped around the head of his cock, Clay let out a string of moans. As she licked, kissed, and sucked Clay couldn't stop himself from thrusting into her mouth, winding his fingers into her hair.

"Emmie, babe, you gotta, I'm gonna," Clay couldn't get his words out, but Emma didn't pull away. When Clay came with a gasp, she gently removed herself, hands rubbing gently as she stood. Wrapping her arms around his waist, Emma let him slow his fast beating heart as she kissed the underside of his jaw.

"How's that for a lived out fantasy babe?" Emma whispered in his ear, laughing at Clay's enthusiastic nod.

"So good Em," Clay kissed her bare shoulder, and for a split second Emma thought he was going to fall asleep standing up. Emma relaxed in his embrace and before she knew it she was thrown over his shoulder as Clay dashed into their bedroom.

"Clay! What are you doing?" Emma shrieked.

"I'm gonna repay the favor," Clay growled, dragging Emma to the edge of the bed.

Emma just nodded, biting her lip. If Clay wanted to repay the favor, she wasn't going to complain. They had the entire day after all, as the snow had started falling again, blanketing the world in it's soothing embrace.


End file.
